You Can't Always Get What You Want
by CigarsAllAround
Summary: Being part of a family is difficult, especially if you're a Howlett. Wolverine and Rogue are brother and sister, and when tragedy strikes, Logan returns to the family farm. Soon another older, gruffer sibling stalks back into their lives, and Rogue quickly realises how important family is when danger looms on the horizon in the shape of William Stryker. Contains spanking and fluff.
1. Just Livin' Life

**You Can't Always Get What You Want**

_You can't always get what you want _  
><em>But if you try sometimes well you might find <em>  
><em>You get what you need<em>

_- Rolling Stones_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

* * *

><p>Lazing on her belly under the windswept porch, Anna-Marie Howlett released a grumpy huff from her five-year-old lips. Her big brother was real late and that made him rude. He was a big, old, hairy, rude boy. It wasn't nice to be late, it was real, real rude, and she was gonna tell him off loads and then send him to the corner 'cause he was always late and rude.<p>

The southern spitfire poked impatiently at the dry mud she was using as a bed, her lower lip trembling when her mama and daddy started shouting again. She lifted her head off her dusty-white arms and scowled at the dirt living under her fingernails. They were always fighting and she didn't like it none. Her boring teacher at school said it was naughty to fight, but nobody had told her mama that because she was yelling like some loud folk.

As the sharp sound of a plate breaking made her jump, Anna's gaze snapped back to the dirt road when she heard the dull roar of a bike. Her face lit up like a real big searchlight and she scrambled excitedly to her bare feet, leaving her hiding place behind. Her late, late and real late brother was here. "Jimmy!" she cried, scurrying over to the man on the bike.

Logan's sun-beaten face broke into a grin and he climbed off his old as dirt Harley. "Hey, darlin'," he greeted, crouching down and waiting for his customary hug. The little girl jumped into his arms and he pulled her to his chest. Damn, he missed this kid like hell. "How's my baby sister, huh?"

Anna rested her pale cheek on his shoulder, looking miserable. "Mama and daddy are fightin' again an' Ah'm sad," she admitted sulkily.

"Yeah, I can hear them," he said, frowning as he scooped up his rucksack and carried the girl to the house. "But don't you worry about that, kiddo. You don't have to be sad, they won't be arguing much longer. Do you know why?"

She shook her head, wearing a pout that clashed with the curiosity in her emerald eyes. Nobody could stop her mama and daddy from fighting unless they were magic like the blue boy in _Aladdin_. "Why, Jimmy?"

"'Cause I'm the Wolverine," Logan growled playfully, tickling her side and climbing up the rickety stoop. He grinned at the amused kid in his arms and dragged his leather boots across the mud stained porch, his parents on his mind. "And I'm the best at what I do, darlin'. You just remember that."

The southern girl giggled, poking at her brother's fat boy cheek with her tiny finger. He was scratchy, so she poked him again, and again. "That's real silly!"

Smirking, he let himself in the house. A wall of warmth and familiar scents greeted him and he sighed. It was good to be home for a short visit, even if the olds weren't real pleased with each other right now. "It ain't silly, Kiddo. That's one of my names. I'm that good at what I do, I get more than one name to keep, you see."

Anna shook her head stubbornly, folding her arms and looking like her mama did when she was mighty mad. "Nuh-uh, ya naughty ol' boy! Ya name's James, but Ah like Jimmy better 'cause Ah do."

"Course you do, darlin'," he chuckled, setting her on her feet and kissing her forehead. His eyes shot around the room, his heart heavy when the sound of threats being made came from his mother's mouth. "You wanna go play while I talk to ma and pa in the kitchen?"

"No," she muttered, peering up at him though a wall of flyaway hair and sulkiness. "Where's mah real good present?"

Logan raised an eyebrow at the girl and started to unzip his bag. "That isn't the polite way to ask, Anna-Marie," he sighed, giving her a look. "Try again and I'll see what I can magic up."

"Can Ah have mah present, please?" Anna pleaded, using her big girl pout, her eyes swimming with hope. "Please, Jimmy. Please, please, please an' loads more please stuff!"

"What makes ya think I got you a present?" he teased his sister, chuckling at the thunderous look on her face. Digging through his bag, he pulled out a stuffed teddy bear with a friendly face and downy green fluff. "Hey now, how did this get in here? I don't remember packing it. You think it snuck it when I wasn't looking?"

Nodding, she bounced up and down like a Springer Spaniel, taking the bear and hugging it to her chest. "He's mah new bestest friend! Ah'm gonna love him forever an' ever 'cause Ah love him."

"Glad you like it, darlin'." Logan ruffled the girl's two-toned hair, eyeing the kitchen door and shaking his head when he heard his pa trying to calm the situation down."You think of a name and I'll be right back. We can head into town for ice cream later once I've finished unpacking, okay?"

"Yeah, ice cream!" Anna dumped herself on the floor, sitting cross-legged and beaming at her new best friend. "Ya hear that? We're goin' for ice cream an' that's real good. D'ya like ice cream, Mister Bear Folk?" She waited for him to answer, leaning forward and pressing her ear to his stitched on mouth. "Ah do, too. Jimmy says Ah've gotta name ya, but Ah ain't got no good names. Have ya got any?"

Grinning at his kid sister's chatter, he frowned and shouldered the kitchen door open. The room was just like he remembered it, full of dark wood and bad memories, and to top it off, his parents didn't even notice his sudden appearance because they were too busy yelling. He sighed at that, hating the fact he was getting involved in their fight. If there was something the Wolverine hated, it was domestics of any kind. But he was doing this for Anna, so he cleared his gravelly throat loudly; knocking on the door as he entered the room.

A surprised John Howlett, looking embarrassed, stepped forward, the anger fading from his unremarkable face. "James," he exclaimed, holding out his hand for his son to shake. "We didn't hear you arrive." He was a kind man and had worked hard all his life to provide for his family. His days spent on the farm had left him with a keen physique and he was as fit as a male half his age, but his light brown eyes were beginning to look tired and worn, and his dark hair was now peppered with grey flecks, leaving the nosiest of the town's population to wonder if his wife's illness was finally wearing him down.

Logan bit back a snort at the sudden change in his father's scent, and he shrugged, shaking the man's hand firmly. "I can be quiet when I want to be," he offered as an explanation and glanced at his mother, his muscles tense when he laid eyes on her. "Ma," he greeted, nodding at the woman.

Elizabeth Howlett, slender and auburn-haired, blinked at her son for a moment or two, confusion cluttering in her pale green eyes. She scrutinised the figure in front of her, and gasped, rushing forward and hugging her son exceptionally tight. "Oh John, you came home. You heard me calling your name and you came home!"

Logan didn't bother correcting his fragile mother. His burly arms circled her frame, holding her gently and treating her like he had always done because she was as breakable as those china plates she liked to throw. He half-wondered if his pa could handle this without seeking some outside help, but he didn't want to interfere too badly, feeling like it wasn't his place. "Yeah Ma, I came home to you," he sighed, rubbing her back as she started to cry. "I'll always come home whenever you call."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ten years later…<strong>_

"Ya a real good listener, Daddy," Anna remarked, tucking her hair behind her heavily pierced ears. "Anybody ever told ya that? Nah, Ah bet they ain't. Folks are far too busy runnin' away tah stop an' talk tah ya." She sighed heavily, and gazed off into the distance, the clouds beginning to darken on the horizon. "Looks like a storms comin' again. Ah know ya never liked the rain much, but Ah love it loads."

It was real funny, but no matter what age she reached, she loved to shoot the breeze with her daddy. You know, just kick back and relax, talk about trivial shit and even the more important things in life like what ice cream cake to buy for dinner. Her daddy was the greatest when it came to that sort of thing.

"Ah'm worried about mama," she admitted quietly, ripping a handful of grass from the patch of land she was now calling her chair. "She's gettin' worse an' Ah don't know what tah do." She chewed her lower lip and slowly nodded when she started to think up an answer her daddy would probably run with. "Yeah, Ah know Ah should call Jimmy, but they ain't talkin' no more. Shit happens, daddy, ya know it does. Shit always happens with our family an' Ah dunno why."

Scowling, the girl watched the horizon for the longest time and chose to shake her head, the lonely silence getting to her. The only sound that gave her comfort was the distant rumble of thunder. "Ah'm sorry, daddy. Ah know ya don't like meh cussin' like a mighty sailor. It's just… Stuffs pretty tough right now an' Jimmy ain't around no more. Ah miss him loads, but he's gone."

Anna sat up on her knees, angrily tearing out the weeds her fingertips were brushing over. "Ah do have some good news, though," she said, trying to lighten things up as she did her weekly cleanup. "Ah aced that damn math test. Ya could say Ah kicked its ass real good. Ah told mama about it an' everythin', an' Ah think somewhere inside her she was real proud about it, too." Finishing up, Anna dumped the last of the weeds in the bucket and brushed her muddy hands on the sides of her denim shorts. "There ya go, clean as a whistle." She smiled slightly at the phrase. "Ah can't believe Ah just used that, it's one of yours. Guess Ah must've picked it up from ya."

Standing, the teen pressed her hand on the top of the gravestone, a distant look in her heartbroken eyes. "Ah'll always take care of ya, daddy. An' ya one lucky fella havin' a bed under the stars." She rubbed at the stone under her palm, blinking away the tears. "Yep, ya real lucky an' everythin'. Ah was lucky too tah have ya in mah life for fourteen-years." The girl couldn't believe it had been twelve months already and it made her even more miserable when she thought how bad things had become since he's gone away. "Just don't tell anybody Ah said that, mah reputation wouldn't like it none." Giving the gravestone one last loving pat, she picked up the bucket. "Take care, daddy. Ah'll see ya next weekend," she whispered, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Give God hell, ya hear?"

Each step Anna-Marie took from her daddy's resting place was torture. She would have given anything in the world to have him back – for him to be right here with her and her mama. She wanted to hug him and tell him she loved him, but that would never happen, not now, her daddy's heart had stopped working and then he was gone.

Huffing bitterly, she dumped the bucket on the back porch and kicked off her dirt clad sneakers, watching them land in a heap on the step that led into the kitchen. "Mama!?" she called, hopping inside the house and closing the door behind her. "Where are ya? It's started rainin' out there, but Ah cleaned up daddy before God started with the cryin'!"

Hanging her green jacket on the back of a chair, she traipsed through the old farmhouse. The place was still plagued with happy memories, she could feel them sometimes and she was ashamed to admit it gave her warm, fuzzy feelings. Hand on the railing, Anna jogged up the stairs, passing photo upon photo of her daddy on the walls. Who was she kidding? She loved that fuzzy stuff that tickled her belly; it almost made her days worth it when she could get lost in her memories.

"Mama, ya decent?" she asked, knocking impatiently on the woman's bedroom door, half expecting her daddy to appear and scold her for being real loud. "C'mon mama, Ah want some company downstairs, it's too quiet. Ya know Ah don't like bein' quiet none."

Letting herself in the room, Anna sighed. "It's near lunchtime, ya gotta be real hungry 'cause ya didn't eat ya-" Standing in the doorway, her stomach turned and she panicked, running to the broken body on the ground. "What did ya do?! Mama, Ah need ya, Ah need ya!" she screamed hysterically, her legs buckling underneath her. "Ah need ya, mama." She stared at the shotgun in the lady's cold hand, and at that moment, as she dropped to her knees, a devastated Anna started to sob. "Ah want ya tah stay with meh. Please, come back, please!"

* * *

><p><strong>Authors note:<strong>

**So, I like an AU. Actually, I like them a hell of a lot. I also love to blow up timelines and comic canon. Come to think about it, any type of canon will do if I have a stick of dynamite and a lighter handy. This idea is based upon an RP thread I dreamt up and will be **_**very **_**family orientated and peppered with discipline - spankings, groundings - that type of thing. **

**_- C_igars**


	2. You Only Have One

**You Only Have One****  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em><strong>Seven years ago…<strong>_

Anna's eight-year-old lips whispered soberly into a beat up walkie-talkie, the girl in question the greatest kid soldier in the world. She was as serious as a heart attack, making her way through the sea of undergrowth on her stomach."Target in mah sight," she whispered, talking to a dead line. The twinned walk-talkie had run away, but she loved playing alone. "Ah'm gonna get it real good. It's tryin' tah get away but Ah ain't gonna let it." Stuffing the plastic toy in her pocket, she grinned, knowing she had caught it now.

The girl crawled army-style through the bushes, slingshot clamped tightly in her steady hand. She didn't care that the thorns and branches were ripping at her clothes because she was a real good fighting folk. She stopped and cocked her head to the side as she picked up a small rock. There was another one of those hairy spiders and she was going to shoot it down off the bush!

She aimed her slingshot, keeping the stone in place and was ready to shoot when she was picked up, and carried towards the house. "No!" she whined in frustration, finding herself over her brother's shoulder. "Jimmy, Ah was gonna get the spider an' ya went an' wrecked everythin'!"

Logan snorted, tucking the slingshot in his jacket pocket and walking out the woods. "You, Kiddo, are filthy. Ma's comin' home soon and you need a bath. How are you going to hug her if you're covered in dirt, huh?"

"She ain't gonna care none what Ah look like," Anna argued, scowling as she was carried further away from the woods. "Mama ain't never cared 'bout what Ah look like an' this ain't fair none. Ah wanna go play in the bushes again 'cause Ah'm a soldier!"

The burly man rolled his eyes and lugged her out the small forest along a scrap of land the cattle were grazing on. "Darlin', ma cares deep down, you know that. She has some trouble showing it sometimes. Pa talked to you about that last week remember?"

"Ah don't care 'bout mama none, Jimmy. She ain't real good 'cause she's crazy an' she don't like mah slingshot neither," she said, scowling at each cow she spotted.

Frowning, he lifted the girl off his shoulder and set her down in front of him. "Hey," he growled, tipping her chin up and looking her in the eye. "Ma ain't crazy, she's sick. There's a big difference and you better remember that, Anna-Marie. If you call her crazy, it'll hurt her feelings."

A sulky Anna dropped her glare to the ground and wanted her mama back. She didn't understand why the lady had to keep leaving all the time."Ya don't know nothin', Jimmy."

"I know plenty, darlin'," Logan sighed, plucking a leaf out her tangled hair. "And I'm only a phone call away when you need to talk to somebody." He pulled his kid sister into a tight hug, his face softening. "All you have to do is call and I'll be there."

"Ya promise, Jimmy?" she asked him in a small voice, her arms wrapping around his middle.

"Yeah kid, I promise," he told her gruffly, leading her to the farmhouse with his arm slung over her shoulders. "I'll always be here for you whether you like it or not."

The moody girl's anger faded and she gazed up at her brother, frowning when she realised he'd gone and taken her toy away. "Ya've got mah slingshot," she said, huffing.

"And you ain't gettin' it back," the feral answered, squeezing her shoulder. "You'll either break a window with it or hurt yourself somehow." He glanced at her grumbling face. "I'm just trying to look after you, darlin'."

"Ya a real bad thief!" she fired back, dragging her feet and scowling all the way to the empty house. "Ya a thief, thief, thief an' an even bigger thief 'cause Ah said ya are."

"Yep," Logan chuckled, ruffling her hair and steering her up the porch steps. "I'm a thief and don't you forget about it."

* * *

><p><em><strong>The present day…<strong>_

Logan scrubbed a calloused hand over his unshaven face as he pocketed the keys, haunted by what had happened in his absence. He heaved a deep-seated sigh, trying to focus on a reason why his ma would have taken a shotgun to herself and pulled the trigger. She'd not only left Anna behind, she had picked a way to die that would leave his kid sister scarred for life. It was a violent, painful death; he knew that, he'd taken a bullet to the head before. As he chewed on an unlit cigar, he wanted to break free from his thoughts, so he climbed off his motorcycle and scanned the wall of people on his parents' farm.

"Mr Howlett?" an inquisitive voice called, stopping the feral man in his tracks. "You're James Howlett, aren't you? There's a picture of you inside the house."

"Yeah," he grunted, his gaze searching the lines of the policewoman's tense face. "I'm James Howlett. Had to travel down from New York, but I made good time." He jammed his hands into his jacket pockets, his eyes searching for his sister in the crowd as he made small talk. "You have questions?"

"Yes, you need to answer a few things." The stern looking woman gestured for him to take a seat on the porch steps. "I'm sorry, I know this is a distressing time, but I have to establish what happened, Mr Howlett. Your sister won't talk about what would have driven your mother to do this."

Sighing, he slumped onto the top step and shook his head. "You're damn right questions need answering. What the hell happened here, huh? She was under a good doctor the last time I saw her. They were sending somebody out every day to help around the house and make sure she was sticking to her medication."

The woman shuffled the papers in her hands and cleared her throat softly. "I'm… Sorry for your loss, Mr Howlett."

He grunted, knowing he'd dropped the ball. He'd have to live with this on his conscience for the rest of his life. Why didn't he try to keep in contact? Even though his ma hated him, he still should have made an effort. If he'd been around this wouldn't have happened. He'd have locked the guns away and kept an eye on the doctor. And if she'd been that ill, he would have made sure she was taken into hospital, even if the money had come out his own pocket.

"Please, just answer these questions so we can piece this together, that's all I'm asking," the officer said, almost pleading with the man.

Logan nodded, wanting to see his sister, but he knew the faster he provided the cops with the information they needed, the sooner he'd be able to wipe Anna's tears away. "She's been sick for a long time, ever since my brother passed. John died in a car wreck a couple of years before Anna was born – it was raining heavily – he lost control of his truck." He produced a lighter and lit the cigar housed between his lips. "She was never the same after that. The doctors said she'd had a breakdown, but my pa looked after."

The woman slowly filled in the form she would give to the coroner on site. "But, your father died last year. Is that correct?"

He inhaled the cigar smoke, and nodded again. "Yeah, he had a heart attack. My ma found him in the barn. It was too late, though, he'd already died. Do you think that's what broke her?" he muttered his eyes on the lighter sitting in his palm.

"Perhaps," she whispered gently, tapping the pen against the paper. "Mr Howlett, apart from you, Anna, and John, your mother has another child, doesn't she?"

Sighing deeply, he dropped the lighter into his pocket. "Yeah, there's another one out there. I don't see how that's going to help Anna right now, though." He looked in the direction of the grave, only spotting a cluster of trees. "He's not a fan of family in general."

"I see," the officer replied, pausing between her notes. "Maybe that was the reason why Anna chose to stay with your mother until early this morning."

He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes, the roll of anger under his skin direction at himself. "Shit," he growled lowly, tugging his hair at the roots."Anna stayed with her all night?"

Officer Compton responded carefully, filing the form away in the notes she had collected. "I'm afraid she only contacted your mother's doctor this morning. He rushed over; calling 911 as he left his office, but he thinks your mom had been deceased for up to two hours before your sister found her."

"Jesus Christ!" Logan's brow furrowed and he thought for a moment, his knuckles starting to itch. Moving his hands from his head, he could feel the concern for his kid sister growing until it riddled his adamantium-coated bones. He needed to take a walk. "Find out why the doctor wasn't keeping tabs on this case because if you don't, I'll track him down and ask him the same question with my fist."

The woman paled significantly and tightened her grip on the file she was holding. "Mr Howlett, you can't-"

"I can." Ending the conversation, Logan stood to his feet, heart heavy. "I'm gonna go track my sister down," he murmured, sniffing the air and scenting Anna-Marie and rain. "One hell of a storm rollin' in," he added, glancing over his shoulder. "Better get under shelter; it's going be a real doozy."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Seven years ago…<strong>_

Anna stood in her cotton pyjamas, the material army green and spotted with yellow faces that were poking out their tongues. Her damp hair was beginning to curl, and she huffed, peering around the doorframe. "Mama ain't comin' home is she?"

Logan placed the phone in its cradle and shook his head. "No darlin', she isn't. That was pa calling to let us know." He raked a hand through his hair, his blue eyes locking with his sister's. "There's been a change of plans."

Her miserable face fell and she crept into the living room, sliding up to the wall and leaning against it with a huff. "What did she do, Jimmy?"

He sighed heavily. "Ma didn't do anything, her doc thinks it's better if she stays a little while longer." Scratching his mutton chops, his mind struggled to find a way to soften the blow. "She's made good friends on the ward and they're going to miss her if she leaves just yet."

A pair of furious pale green eyes narrowed and Anna folded her arms. "Ya made meh take a bath an' mama ain't even comin' home!"

Relieved she hadn't picked up on his bullshit, Logan snorted. "Little girls take baths daily," he said, glancing at the grandfather clock standing proudly in the hall. "And, it's bedtime for you, kiddo."

Scowling darkly, Anna stormed to her room, stamping her bare feet all the way to the stairs and up each step, too. She was gonna be real loud because she weren't happy none. "Ah hate ya an' this stupid family! Ah hate ya, Jimmy an' Ah hate the bath loads!"

Rolling his eyes, Logan snorted. "You want a story?" he called after her, ignoring the ranting. He didn't blame her for the reaction, the kid was hurting. "I can rustle up a story, darlin'. Anything you want, huh?"

"No, 'cause Ah hate 'em too! Ah hate 'em real bad an' everythin'!" she yelled, barrelling into her bedroom and slamming the door closed. "Ah hate everythin'!"

Standing there, staring at the overly-patterned living rug at his feet, Logan had a sense of dread at the thought of his spitfire of a kid sister hitting her teen years. She was already a force to be reckoned with and she hadn't even hit the age of nine.

Anna, meanwhile, growled into her pillow and smacked at it, her bunched fist sinking into the fat feathers hiding behind the cover. She couldn't sleep and it was everybody's fault except hers. It was her stupid family, stupid brother, stupid mama, stupid doctor and the stupid crazy folk's hospital! Everything was stupid, real stupid and she hated everything 'cause she did.

Huffing, she grabbed her walkie-talkie off the messy table by her bed. She switched it on and began to talk to the radio waves, her room and her teddy bear because she was feeling sad, unhappy and really sad. Her mama weren't coming home and her hopes were crushed.

Logan puffed on his cigar, searching through the workshop for something to tinker with or fix. He needed something to take his mind off the shit going down in his family. His ma wasn't getting any better and the illness in her head was too damn stubborn to let up. He thought a stay at the hospital would nip it in the bud, but it didn't seem to be happening. Brow creasing, he found a walkie-talkie in a box of items that smelt of Anna. Holding the device in his large palm, he punched the button and a familiar kid's voice bled out the dusty speaker.

"… Ah wish mah mama was home with meh. The other kids at school, they all have mamas who help 'em bake cakes an' sew things. Ah don't wanna sew nothin' that ain't what a soldier would wear, but if mama wanted tah make meh a pink skirt, Ah'd help her loads."

Cigar hanging from his lips, Logan found a stool to sit on. He stayed silent, listening to the girl's heartfelt words. He should have known all this drama would have an effect on her.

"She's real sick mah mama, somethin' in her head makes her cry real bad an' do stuff that ain't right. Ah don't want her tah be sad or nothin' so Ah try tah make her happy all the time…"

The quality of the line dropped, making Logan growl. He shook the walkie-talkie, half tempted to start clawing at the piece of plastic. "C'mon, c'mon, get working," he demanded in irritation. "I want to hear what she's got to say."

"… An' stuff like puttin' mah army head on an' takin' out the spiders with mah slingshot. Jimmy don't like meh usin' it though, so he took it off meh. But mama's scared of spiders, an' he's a grumpy, old asshole."

He raised an eyebrow and pressed a thumb down firmly on the talk button. "I also don't like you using swears either," he grunted, cigar smoke billowing from his nose and parted lips. "So watch it, little lady."

A surprised Anna gasped, almost dropping her walkie-talkie out of her pale hand. Scowling, she curled up under the covers and pressed the button on her toy, wanting to shout at her brother. "Jimmy, ya a big, stinkin' thief, an' daddy said it's real naughty tah listen tah folks when it's real private!"

Logan snorted, amused by her bravado. "I wouldn't be listenin' if you were asleep. It's a school night, darlin'. You have be up early in the morning."

The girl tried to steer the conversation away from talk about school and bedtime because she hated both. Yeah, she still hated everything and always would. "Where'd ya find the other walkie-talkie?"

"Pa's workshop," he replied steadily, exhaling a ring of heavy Cuban smoke. "It was inside a box with your name on. I guess he was clearing out some junk and he thought you didn't use it anymore."

She sat up in a flash, flipping the bed covers off her and scrambling to her feet, eager to escape her boring bed. "Ah'm gonna come fetch it off ya, Jimmy!"

"Nope," Logan grunted, standing to his feet. "You stay right where you are. I'll bring it to you and I'm gonna read you a story." He flicked the cigar ash into the cool night's air as he trudged back to the farmhouse. "Oh, and kid?"

Flopping back onto the bed, she held the walkie-talkie to her lips as she stared at the shadows plaguing her ceiling. "Yeah, Jimmy?"

He dropped the half-smoked cigar to the ground and crushed it under his boot. "Ma's going be just fine. Give her time, darlin', and you'll see."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Present day…<strong>_

Hiding from the cops, a trembling Anna hugged her knees to her chest, scooting as close to her daddy as she could without sitting her Southern ass on his grave. She frowned, the emotions rushing through her like a torrent of aching blues. "Ah said Ah'd be back at the weekend, daddy," she muttered hoarsely, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Guess Ah lied. A day later, that's what Ah shoulda said. Hindsight an' all that, huh?"

Resting her chin on her knees, Anna played with her silver nose ring, twisting it around in circles. "Ya proud of meh? Ah hope ya are, up there on ya kick ass cloud. It would have to be kick ass, ya a Howlett an' that means everybody's gotta treat ya real good." Her lower lip began to tremble and she harshly bit down on it, drawing blood and emotion to the surface. "Daddy, we lost mama last night. Ah tried mah best but it weren't good enough. Not for her, not for nothin'."

Her shaking hand dropped to tug at her boot lace and she lifted her gaze to the headstone. "Can ya do somethin' for meh? Look after her. Just take care of mama like she deserves an' everythin'. Tell her… Tell her Ah ain't too pissed 'bout it an' Ah'm real sorry Ah didn't bury the gun in the woods. Ah'm – Ah'll be okay, too. She don't have tah worry 'bout meh, daddy. Ya don't gotta either 'cause Ah said so."

Approaching the girl from behind, Logan would never have recognised his little sister if it hadn't been for her scent. Jet black hair, short skirt, and was that a nose ring? He sighed, leaving the strong words for another day. There was a time and a place to disapprove of the way she dressed and this wasn't the day to argue with her. "Anna," he called to the girl softly, his words carrying through the heavy spots of rain tumbling from the overcast sky. "C'mon darlin', you can't stay here." He offered her his hand as he stepped toward the depressed looking teen sitting by the grave.

Peeling her eyes off their daddy's resting place, Anna gazed up at her big brother. It was twelve long months since she had last seen his face and he was still ugly as sin. But, with one last fleeting glance at the gravestone, she took his hand and climbed to her feet, still feeling real sick to her stomach.

"How you holding up, huh?" he asked in concern, an arm wrapping protectively around her shoulders. When he didn't hear an answer, he filled the silence with more worry. "Have you eaten today? You're looking thin, kid. You lost weight lately?"

She found her tongue dry of words and only chewed her lip as she let him steer her to the farmhouse. What could she say? Her mind, body, soul; every part of her was numb right now. The only thing she could think of was how cold her mama's hand had been when she'd been holding it all night. It had felt like ice was meeting and greeting in the lady's veins, and that's when Anna had realised she was all alone in the world.

"Don't worry kiddo, I'm going to take care of you now, you don't have to worry about a thing," he reassured the girl the best way he could. With what she'd been witness to, he wasn't surprised by the silent treatment.

After the relatively short walk, they both came to a sudden halt by the front porch. Logan's muscles tensed as the permeating stench of death clung to the air. He gathered Anna to his chest, wanting to protect her from the sight in front of them.

Anna's ashen face followed the men gently carrying the body bag down the porch steps on a stretcher. Her mama was in there, her sleeping mama. She stepped forward, hand reaching out. "Unzip it a little!" she ordered loudly, fighting to break away from her brother. "Mama can't breathe shut away like that! She's don't like small spaces neither! Hey, ya gotta do what Ah say 'cause ya stoppin' her from breathin'!"

Logan nodded at them to carry on and kept a tight grip on his sister, locking his arms around her small frame. "She's gone, darlin'," he whispered gruffly, watching them load the body into sombre looking truck. "Ma's gone."

As the storm broke overhead, lashing the siblings with torrential rain, Logan and Anna stood paralysed to the spot as the van rolled down the driveway, taking their mother away from the Howlett farm for the very last time.

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><p><strong>Reviewers: Those lovely, polite people who put a smile on my face.<strong>

**Z - Camping. Something I will never understand the point of. But you leaving for the weekend will give me time to write, clean my room, write and maybe write some more. Oh, and I used Anna Bear. I happen to like that term of endearment too. Thanks for the review!**

**gaben - You made me grin madly at my laptop. Now my brother thinks I'm some kind of insane person who likes to smile at computers. Thanks for reading, complimenting and reviewing!**

**Twilight-Addict1918 - I'm happy you liked it and hope you enjoyed the update. Thanks for reviewing!**

**country strong '89 - Thank you!**


	3. Free Tears and a Smoke

**Thank you to my reviewers: gaben, TwilightAddict, Zandra, lajoci, nita6546, carita, Little Red Riding Brat, Sarah, Kima00, Raven34link.**

**I was asked in a review if Anna has any powers yet. The answer is no, not at the moment. I was messing around with the idea she would get some kind of power, but not a soul-sucking skin condition. I think I'm quite happy to buck the trend there.**

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><p><strong>Free Tears and a Smoke<strong>

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><p>Logan ignored the no-smoking sign, lighting one of his famous cigars with the snap of a heavy metallic lighter. He was starting to lose his mind surrounded by the stench in here, death was clogging every inch of space and he growled deeply in his chest. Chomping on his cigar, he looked at his kid sister every now and then, searching for something to say, but found he was unable to strike up a conversation in the middle of the waiting room. What could he tell her that she didn't already know?<p>

"You no smoke here!" a mocha-skinned woman with broken English called, pointing time and again at the sign. "No allowed smoking. No, no, no!"

Anna lifted her miserable gaze from her bootlaces and pinned her brother with an unimpressed look. "Can't do nothin' right, can ya?" she muttered huffily.

Heaving a heavy sigh, he stood to his feet and stretched, hearing his joints pop. "I'll be outside," he grunted, cigar between his lips. "If you need anything, poke your head out the door and call me, okay?" he added, taking his leave with a glare directed at the cleaner who'd given him an earache.

She didn't answer Jimmy, choosing to show a little more interest in the room now he'd left her alone. The woman opposite her seemed to calm as the smell of smoke faded from the air, and she started to polish the chequered floor, smothering each tile with a helping of wax. Their eyes met and Anna shrugged, standing up and wandering away. She had some exploring to do because somebody real important was calling to her.

The building they were hanging out in was on the edge of the small town, shaped like a postage stamp and probably the same size as one, too. So, it didn't take her long for her wander-lust to come to an end as she crept down the gloomy corridor, her sneakers scuffing the tiles. The sunshine yellow walls were dotted with photos of happy scenes, fishing trips, daddies with their sons, and mamas with their daughters. They were grinning at her through the Perspex glass and she scowled, slowling her pace. She wanted to cry, but the tears refused to budge from her stubborn eyes: there was somebody she needed to see badly and if she started sobbing now her feet were going to stick like superglue to the chess board-style floor coverings under her toes.

Anna breathed deeply, stepping over to the large, looming door and closed her eyes for a punch of time, listening to the feelings inside her. She would do this because she was no coward and she owed this to herself. This all needed to be put behind her and opening this door would mean real heavy closure. Blindly reaching for the brass handle, she turned it and tried not to remember what she's been met with the last time she had walked in a room which had housed her mama. Those memories would haunt her forever and a day, and she weren't seeking to make things worse.

An acne-swarmed man cleared his whiskey scarred throat, and Anna opened her eyes. She weren't ready yet, not for the real ugly sight she was taking in. Her mama lay there as cold as December, pale and rigid; two men trying to strong arm her corpse into the coffin. Tears exploded from her raging eyes, and Anna flew at them. "Ya let go of mah mama!" she bawled, the pain polluting her strained voice.

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><p><em><strong>Fifteen years ago…<strong>_

Hopping off his beat-up motorcycle, Logan grinned and swung his duffle bag onto his broad shoulder. "Hey pa," he greeted, waiting for the man to close the distance between him and the old family house. "How's things since… You know?"

John Howlett, beaming with pride, pulled his son into a loving hug, feeling choked up as the last week came to comfort him in his mind."James, you're early," he announced in surprise. "We weren't expecting you until tomorrow. There's no food in the house except cans and leftovers."

Logan shrugged, not bothered in the least. "I can fix some grub, pa. I'm not exactly a chef, but I know how to work a toaster. And I finished work earlier than I expected," he grunted, patting his dad on the back before letting him go. "How's ma holding up?"

The gentle man sighed and led his son across the dusty, water-starved ground, then up the creaking steps of the front porch. "It was touch and go for a moment, but we all made it through the troubles in one piece." His older than time eyes swam with tears. "We nearly lost the baby," he added quietly.

His brow creasing in worry, Logan hadn't known the birth had been _that_ difficult. His pa had always had a way of pretending everything was fine when they chatted on the phone. "The kid's fine though, right?" he grunted, his heart sinking as he waited for news on his sibling.

"Yes," his pa answered after what seemed like an eternity. He walked inside the house and held the door open for James. "Anna-Marie's upstairs in her nursery, and she's beautiful."

"You called her Anna-Marie?" Logan grinned, his face almost splitting in two. "Hell, I've got a kid sister."

"And I've got a daughter," the older man announced with a watery smile, tears rolling down his ecstatic cheeks as he shut the door. "A little girl to watch grow, laugh with and love. I can show her the animals on the farm, teach her how to ride a horse, and take her to one of those father daughter dances." He wiped his tears away. "She's going to bring us luck, James. I can just feel it. Anna's what we needed in this family. Your mother's going to get better now she has another child who needs her."

Logan wasn't sure if he believed the part about his ma, and he remained silent. The woman had scars that ran deeper than the largest ocean and the doctors had barely scratched the surface inside her fragile mind.

"I thought we'd lost her when God called your brother home that stormy summer's night, but he's given us another chance now, another blessing and her name's Anna-Marie Howlett," the man said, shaking his head at his tears. "How about we have a drop of whiskey to celebrate? I know I hid a bottle of it somewhere."

Logan nodded, starting to climb the well lit staircase. "Sure," he replied, watching his pa head for the large kitchen at the back of the house. "You mind if I go check on the baby first?"

"Be my guest," John Senior called, scratching his head and looking searchingly around the kitchen. "I need to find the whiskey. I suppose I never thought we'd have a reason to celebrate again or I would have remembered where I'd put it."

Chuckling at the man's words, Logan sniffed the air as he reached the top of the stairs. His nostrils caught the new scent and he followed the trail slowly down the hall. He smiled warmly to himself and couldn't believe how innocent and pure the smell was. This particular scent hadn't been broken by the world yet and there was no emotion to detect, only pure naughtiness.

"You're losing your mind, Wolverine," he snorted, shaking his head. "Babies sure as hell don't smell naughty." He cracked open the door to the nursery and glanced in, finally treading inside the room when he decided it wasn't going to scar the baby for life if she caught sight of his face.

"Hey there, little darlin'," he greeted, reaching into the same sturdy mahogany crib he used to sleep in when he was a rugrat. Gently picking up the wriggling bundle of baby, he was almost struck dumb by her beauty.

Logan sat down in a trance and cradled the girl to his chest, brushing his large palm over the soft flakes of downy brown fluff on her head. "You know who I am?" he asked gently, his eyes captivated by her pale and very serious looking face. "I don't think you've been told me about me, yet. Most people call me Wolverine, others Logan, but I'll let you go wild calling me Jimmy."

Her large, pale green eyes gazed up at the strange man and Logan was mesmerised. He held one of her tiny hands in his and couldn't believe how small it was sitting on his calloused paw. Hell, she was so small; he would have to try ten times harder to keep her safe.

"I'm your big brother, darlin'," he whispered to her. "And you've already captured ma and pa's heart. Want mine, too? Well, you've got it, but let me give you some advice now, Kiddo. You better stay away from the boys out there." He smirked, tapping her button nose with his finger. "Boys aren't nice, even when they're your age. What do you think to that, Anna?"

The baby gurgled and Logan grinned. "You're going to give me trouble when you're older," he chuckled, tickled by how vocal she'd become. "The fact you're agreeing with me doesn't bode well for our future, kiddo'."

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><p><em><strong>The Present Day…<strong>_

Logan almost choked down his half-smoked cigar when he heard his kid sister hollering and carrying on inside the funeral home. Cussing a long blue streak, he snuffed out his smoke and tossed it over his shoulder. "Shit!" he grumbled, worried over the attention Anna was giving to her lungs. He burst through the entrance, leaping over the old lady scrubbing the floor and skidded to a stop by the room his Ma's body was in. "Hey!" he called to his sister, scowling and trying to yank her off the man she was hammering with her fists. "Anna-Marie, stop it!"

Catching sight of his ma's body, his heart sunk and he could see the funeral home had done a good job attempting to smudge the bullet hole away with make-up. He tore his gaze off the corpse and hauled his sister over his shoulder before she knocked the guy clean-out. "Sorry about that," he grunted to the undertakers, keeping tight hold of his spitfire of a sister as he carried her out the room.

The crawling memory of his dead ma haunting his mind, he didn't stop walking until he was in the parking lot and only smelt the faint tinge of death in the cool breeze of the afternoon sunlight. "Anna!" Logan barked, setting the girl on her feet and shaking her by the shoulders. "What the hell were you doing back there?"

His sister was sobbing up such a storm, he could hardly make out a word she was saying and it broke what was left of his heart. "Darlin'," he sighed, pulling her into his burly arms and hugging the life out of her. "I didn't mean to snap at you. C'mon darlin', don't cry. Everything's going to be just fine." He picked her up again, cradling her to his chest like he used to do when she was small, and rocked her back and forth. "Hell, I'm a jackass. I know that, Kid. I shouldn't have yelled like that."

"J-Jimmy," Anna hiccupped, her pale cheeks littered with sharp, plump tears.

"Yeah, it's me and I'm not leaving you again," he promised gruffly, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"They were hurtin' Mama!" she whimpered desperately, her vocal cords bouncing around. "Ah saw 'em! Those guys in there, Ah opened the door an' they were draggin' her about, they were real rough!"

Logan froze, a deep rumble vibrating in his ribcage and the rage rising faster than a speeding bullet. He unlocked the passenger door to his jeep and sat Anna down on the seat, buckling her in. "Stay here," he ordered, wiping her tears away. "I'll deal with it." He shut the door, pocketing his keys as he turned around, his boots landing with a _crunch _on the gravelled lot.

His knuckles itching, he stalked toward the funeral home, his mind racing with dark thoughts. That was the most his sister had talked to him in days and she was fucking upset over some fuckers manhandling their dead ma! He threw open the first set of doors, almost ripping them free from their hinges as he heard the conversion leaking from the roof the viewing room.

"Dude, just shove her in there," one of the undertakers spat out, sounding tense.

"I forgot my gloves! I don't want to touch her again. She'll be rotting soon, anyway. You're the one who dropped her, too. I want a fucking whiskey, Trey, not a headache."

His anger bristling, Logan stopped outside the door, releasing a thunderous growl. He shouldered his way inside was face-to-face with two potheads and their knocking knees. "Get . Away. From. Her." he snarled, barely able to talk as he approached them with clenched fists. Swinging his arm, he clipped one of the men on the jaw, sending him flying out the room. The feral then picked the over one up by the front of his shirt, pulling him closer into the jaws of the Wolverine. "I ever see you again, I'm going to shred you into ribbons," he threatened in a violent whisper, lifting the man clean off his feet and throwing him out the door to join his friend.

Taking a deep breath, Logan tried to calm down while the sounds of scrambling limbs and squeaks filled his ears. He turned around, his gaze dropping to the ground. "Let's get you up off the floor, ma," he said, walking closer to the deceased woman and gently scooping her into his arms.

The stench of death was overwhelming, but he wouldn't trust anybody to do this after what his sister had seen. "I'm sorry about that," he sighed, carrying her across the old oak floor panels that creaked underneath his weight. "I know you never liked seeing me losing my temper. But hell, they had it coming and I went easy on them."

It was a tight fit but he laid his ma out in her coffin and looked down at her pale face. "Pa always said he liked seeing you in that dress you're wearing. He called you a knock-out," he told her, making small talk. "I guess it doesn't matter that I have a problem with religion, you're up there with pa now, right?" He shook his head, wishing that was true but he knew the woman was finally at peace because there wasn't life after death – there was silence while your bones turned to dust.

"You know, I can't get my head around how different Anna looks. She's almost fully-grown now, ma." He frowned and scratched his heavy set jaw. "What the hell were you thinking leaving her like that? She still needs you, damn it! The kid's lost both you and pa." He heaved a sorry sigh. "If I'd known you were struggling I would have come back. Why didn't you call me, huh? I would've come for you and Anna-Marie! I could've helped! Shit ma, what the hell made you point that gun at your head? You must have known who'd find you bleeding out."

Logan looked away, swallowing the lump in his throat. He couldn't remember the last time he'd shed a tear, but it was probably when his pa's heart had stopped beating. He couldn't break down now though, he had to be strong for Anna. "Just so you know," he grunted out, glancing back to scared woman's face. "I'm gonna be taking care of Anna from now on. You never thought much of me when you were alive, but here's hoping you've changed your tune now because after what you did, I'm all she's got left."

With a respectful nod, Logan began to walk away, needing to go chew the funeral home manager out. "I'll bring Anna back to see you when she's calmed down." As an afterthought, he paused at the door and turned to face the open coffin. "I'm going to raise her just like you and pa would have done, okay? I promise you that. I couldn't keep you safe, but I'll do everything in my power to keep Anna-Marie out of harm's way." Logan sighed again and left the private room, the smell of his ma riddling his senses.


	4. Furious Feral Fury

**Thanks to Zandra, Ryromaniac, gaben and Evrenge for the reviews!**

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><p><strong>Furious Feral Fury<strong>

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><p>"Shoppin'?" Anna groaned, scrunching her button nose like a used paper towel. She leaned against the side door and huffed, using her foot to boot at a nearby stone. "Ain't Ah been through enough without bein' forced to go shoppin', Jimmy? This ain't fair none."<p>

Climbing out his pa's old Chevy truck, Logan was struck with the lingering scent of the man he'd idolised half his life. Hell, it was times like these he hated his mutation. "Don't start, Anna-Marie," he sighed, his mood souring as he locked the cherry-red vehicle.

"Ah don't need no food or nothin'. Ah wanna go home, not hang around Hookersville," she snorted bitterly, waving at the soccer mamas who'd hopped, skipped and jumped their way from their kids' schools to leaping head first into a whore's closest. Yeah, she weren't a fan of the way they were dressing at all. "Sweats an' stilettos don't go together."

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed, noting the looks being tossed their way. "We don't have any food in the house and I don't know about you, but I need to eat sometime today."

"Then go eat 'cause Ah sure as heck don't wanna!" Anna scowled, storming ahead with a face like thunder. Her mama was never going to eat again, so why were they, huh? Why were they going shopping when she was locked away in a coffin? She still didn't think it was fair none.

"Give me strength," Logan muttered under his breath, trailing after his sister and fighting the urge to follow one of the leggy redheads to the restroom. Tearing his eyes away from the woman, he wrapped his arm around Anna's shoulders. "Darlin', you need to eat and eat good today. It isn't healthy to be acting like you are. I know everybody grieves in their own way but you're going to get sick if you don't start looking after yourself."

"Ah don't wanna look after mahself," she grumbled stubbornly, folding her arms and glaring at anybody who shot by her with a shopping cart, as they walked for the brightly lit supermarket.

Sighing, he squeezed her shoulder. "That's why I'm here, kiddo. I'll look after you and you're going to be eating three square meals a day from now on." He pulled a face as they entered the busy grocery store, snatching a shopping cart from an arguing couple and smirking to himself when they didn't notice. "Right," he said, steering the cart to the first aisle. "What do you want to buy?"

"Beer, cigars an' chocolate 'cause Ah wanna melt the stuff then get the Garret boys to dunk their asses in it, while Ah light up a bunch of cigars, an' take loads of photos. So yeah, Ah need a camera, too," Anna said with a deadpanned expression packed with a poker straight face.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head firmly, knowing full well she was yanking his chain. "I know you're joking, but hell no, that's never going to happen, darlin'."

Anna snorted at her brother's response. "Jimmy, ya ain't no fun. Least the Garret boys know how tah have a good time, an' don't ya go an' argue with mah neither," she added, snatching a bag of cheese flavoured chips from the nearby display.

"They're a bunch of delinquents with rat tails for hair," Logan grunted, tossing a tonne of beef jerky into the cart. "And if I catch you hanging around with them you're going to be in trouble, kiddo. You need to keep away from those idiots."

Leaning against the shopping cart, she scowled up at her brother and dropped her bag of chips on top of his mountain of jerky."What's ya deal with 'em anyway?"

"They don't have a brain cell between them, that's what. They were no good when I lived around here, and now they're spawning left, right and centre, it's worse than one of those damn Twilight movies you've taken a hating to."

Shuddering, Anna had to compose herself real bad before she could talk again. Why'd he have to mention one of those goddamn movies? "Ah think the Garret boys are better than that shit."

"Language," he grunted, swinging a left and hitting the frozen food aisle. "Now this is more like it. Grab everything you see," he told her, helping himself to the pizzas in front of him. "I'm not planning on starving for a while."

The teen didn't shift from the cart, her brow furrowing over and tumbling with a long curious stare. "Ah don't get it none 'cause the Garret's are always askin' after ya ass when they see meh around town or come hang out near the lake."

Dumping the Chicago-style meat feast pizzas into the space behind the jerky, Logan fixed his sister with a sharp look. "You don't see them, talk to them or even look their way, Anna-Marie. I'm being serious here, you understand?"

"Yeah, Ah understand," she sighed huffily, playing with a lock of her tangled hair. "Ya don't make no sense, but Ah get ya 'cause Ah talk English, ya know. Ain't nothin' wrong with mah ears either."

"Good," he said, walking ahead with the cart and ignoring her attitude. The last thing he wanted was his little sister to fall in with the Garrets. They'd done enough damage to his family already. He wasn't going to have history repeating itself because she didn't understand where he was coming from.

She watched her brother walk away and frowned, feeling real suspicious. He was hiding something from her, she was sure of it and she would find out what it was, too. Her family were always hiding stuff and she hated it. They all hid stuff until they died and she always found out everything during the damn funerals. Yeah, that's what had happened with her daddy. But when her brain finally started to race with forgotten memories, her thinking was clipped when a sudden real hated character came to play with her.

"Oops!" a blonde-haired girl with a high-pitched giggle said, knocking Anna against the freezer. "I'm so sorry. Not!"

Anna instantly snapped free from her thoughts, clenching her fists and ignored her throbbing hip as she glared at her arch-rival. It was that little bitch Mercedes! She was sure the girl was called that because her parents couldn't afford no bed. They must have bunked together in the back of an old Mercedes until that horse's ass was born. And now because her parents were divorced, the oxygen thief's mama posed for dirty magazines with her dumpy meat out for all to see."Ya do that again an' Ah'm gonna rip ya head off real good," Anna threatened, anger sparking in her pale-green eyes.

"I'm sooo scared," Mercedes responded, hand on her hip. "Didn't your mother die? You can't live here you know, this is a grocery store, not a homeless shelter."

The hair spiked on the back of Anna's neck and she felt a wash of cold, harsh fury thunder through her veins. "Keep talkin', go on, Ah dare ya real good."

"You want me to keep talking?" the spoilt girl teen smiled mockingly, waving at her mother. "I can do that. Everybody knows your dad died so he could escape your mad mom, but why did your mom die? Was it because she hated living with you? I bet she was really embarrassed having you as a daughter."

Her knuckles were starting to itch and Anna snarled, launching herself on her enemy, her fingers locking around handfuls of bleached hair. She'd lost her fool mind and couldn't do anything to stop the angry ball from rolling down her skin. A large part of her actually thought she was going to bash her victim's head against the ground when she knocked her down.

"M-Mommy, help me!" Mercedes shrieked, panicked and terrified as she tried to slap Anna's hands away from her hair. "My extensions are coming out!"

Logan stopped walking, a feeling in his gut telling him something was wrong. His eyes darted around the aisle and he couldn't spot his sister anywhere. "Christ," he sighed, retracing his steps. This always happened wherever he went, he always lost her. Hearing some kind of commotion and yelling in the aisle a few ways over, he stalked after the noise and almost choked on his tongue. "What the…!" He abandoned the shopping cart and pushed his way through the thick crowds.

Anna dragged the girl out the aisle by her straggly fake hair and shoved her into the fresh fruit stand before flying at her again. Nobody talked about her mama and daddy and got away with it 'cause they'd gone and died, leaving her all alone!

"Somebody get her off my daughter," Mercedes sun-kissed, stunning mother shouted dramatically, pulling at her only child's arms. "She's a savage!"

Logan pushed past the loud-mouthed woman and snaked an arm around Anna's waist. "Let go!" he ordered gruffly, spotting the store security heading their way. "Hey, I'm not playing here, kid." Sniffing his sister's scent, he started to grow concerned when he detected the strong smell of feral behaviour. Knowing he needed to snap Anna's out of it, he slammed his open palm across her backside as hard as he dared. "Get a grip, darlin'," he demanded, thankful when she let go of the other girl's hair.

A surprised Anna shot her brother with an accusatory glare. "What the heck was that for?" she asked, rubbing the sting from her butt.

He didn't answer, grabbing his sister by the wrist and hauling her away from the scene before she got herself locked up. This was just what they needed right now, her mutation starting to take over her head. Hell, was she a feral like him? He'd never seen her act that way before.

"Wait!" Mercedes' mother called, clip-clopping after Logan in her sky high heels.

"Look," he sighed heavily, glancing over his broad shoulder. "You want to press charges, then that's up to you. I've got links with the cops around here, though. And I'm betting whatever happened back there was triggered by your kid."

The curvaceous blonde shook her head and broke out in a dazzling smile. "Oh no, no," she said, waving her hand at him and giggling. "I wanted to invite you back to my home."

"What?" Logan grunted, staring at the woman like she's grown another head. "My sister just attacked your daughter."

"I know," she answered, tucking her long, flowing locks behind her ears. "I'd still like you to spend some time with me, though. I'm a model."

Raising an eyebrow, Wolverine couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was true what they said; women shopping in grocery stores were sex crazy. He reached forward, plucking a banana from the stand and handing it to the lady. "There you go, sweet cheeks," he grunted, his hand clamping down on Anna's shoulder and propelling the girl towards the exit.

Anna rubbed at her knuckles and was wondering why they kept aching between the bony areas. It was like the pockets of air were getting strangled and kicked. "Jimmy -"

"I don't want to hear it," he growled, quickly heading for the truck and keeping an eye on her every movement.

"But Jimmy," she huffed sadly, slowing her pace as she hugged herself. "It weren't mah fault none."

Logan couldn't bring himself to be angry at his sister after everything that had happened. He'd been fighting most of his life to control the feral fury and had tripped up and gotten himself into trouble more times than he could remember. "Darlin', not now," he sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm not pissed at you, okay? We've just got to head somewhere else to pick up the food." His thoughts were running a million miles a minute. He was sure that spike earlier in the store was the start of something like a mutation and he had to get it checked out. If it hadn't have been for that, he would have walloped Anna until she was bawling, and he wouldn't have given a damn about a crowd watching, either.

The feral wordlessly buckled his sister in the truck and shut the door, heaving a calming sigh. It looked like it was time to get in touch with Xavier again. If his Anna was going to join him in the world of mutation he wanted her to be somewhere safe. But first, he needed to brave another grocery store.


	5. Lego House

**A very heartfelt thank you goes out to the following lovely reviewers: gaben, kima00, Ryromaniac, Caseyrn12 and Jamiekid9.**

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><p><strong>Lego House<strong>

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><p><em><strong>Six years ago...<strong>_

"Ah ain't goin'!" the girl yelled as she dragged her feet along the moonlit path, causing her brother to wince. Even a flock of nearby birds fled through the cover of darkness, scared by the shouting. "An' ya better quit followin' meh 'cause Ah ain't nice when Ah'm angry!"

Logan shook his head and waited for the ringing to subside in his ears before he spoke. He was hoping to talk some sense into his kid sister without wringing her neck. After all, she'd been through a hell of a lot, but if she didn't go tomorrow she would end up regretting it.

"Anna," he sighed, scratching his stubble and following after the spitfire of a kid. "It's ma's homecoming. It's kind of important you're there, kiddo. You know how happy she's going be to get home and away from the hospital? Hell, she'll be pleased to-"

"Yeah, ya got that right, Jimmy!" Anna seethed, hitting out at the sea of branches with a scowl and a set of pale, tightly clenched fists. "She's gonna go tah Hell 'cause she ain't a nice mama! Ah hate her! Ah hate her! Ah hate her!"

He frowned at that and pulled the kid to a stop. "Hey," Logan chided, looking down at the girl with a stern gaze. "I've told you before, ma's sick and she can't help the things she does."

The nine-year-old glared darkly at her big brother and lifted her middle finger up, waving it at him. "Eat shit an' die, James!" she shot back loudly, rendering him speechless.

Logan watched his sister storm away from him, opening his mouth and snapping it shut again. Where had she learned to act like that? Not from him, that was for damn sure. He tried to curb his bad habits around the girl and look where that had gotten him. She was treating him like a piece of trash and walking away from him, too. "Anna-Marie Howlett!" he barked, recovering his voice. "You get back here right now!"

"No!" Anna scowled, stamping through the trees and overgrown bushes. "Ah'm runnin' away an' Ah'm gonna get a new family! Ah'm gonna have loads of money, chocolate an' green mud! Ya hear that, ya stupid brother? Ah'm gonna have loadsa stuff an' ya can have mama 'cause Ah don't want her no more! She's a mean ol' pig an' Ah hate her!"

Growling, the feral quickly caught up with the kid and shook his head. She was really asking for it. Clamping a strong hand down on her shoulder, he cracked his palm across her backside and listened to her gasp. "You want to know what I think?" he grunted, walloping her again and again. "You're a little girl who's pushing her luck and her mouth, and it's going to stop right here, right now. You aren't too young to know ma's hurting right now, Anna-Marie, and you kicking off like this isn't helping!"

Hopping from one foot to the other, Anna tried to dodge the swats and when that didn't work, sorry tears leaked from her pale green eyes. "Jimmy!" she whimpered, almost jumping out her skin when another whack landed on her butt. "Don't!"

With a steely look of determination, Logan sighed and continued to chastise his sister, his hand falling time and again. After a minute or two, his ears drank in the sound of his pa's tyres greeting the gravelled driveway and he landed one last stinging smack to her backside.

"This is what you're going to do, darlin'," he told her, placing his other hand on her shoulder and gently turning her around to face him. "You're going to let me hug you until you're feeling better," he said, wiping her tears away with his fingertips. "You'll say sorry for the way you just acted, and then we'll head back to the house and go see ma, okay? Seems she's back early and I know she wants to see you."

Anna felt real betrayed by her big brother, and she pulled away miserably, shaking her head. Bitter tears rolled down her cheeks and she rubbed at her bottom with a sniffle. "Ya spanked meh," she whimpered, staring up at him and taking a step backwards.

"Yep," Logan nodded firmly, not missing a beat. "And you're lucky I didn't bare you, but you're forgiven now, darlin'," he added, holding out his arms in invitation and hoping she would let him hug her. The girl's tears were breaking his stony heart. "C'mere kiddo, it's not the end of the world."

She took another step back, and flew away from him as she bolted further into the woods on feet quicker than a binge eating cheetah. "Leave meh alone!" she cried, choking on a sob. "Ah hate ya'll! Ah hate ya!"

"Hell," he muttered under his breath, watching the kid make tracks in the woods. With a sigh and a sinking heart, he sniffed his sister's unhappy scent and walked after it, the smell of tears lunging at his senses and making him feel like the worst guy in the world.

* * *

><p><strong>Present day...<strong>

Anna picked up a chipped piece of rock and set it down on her daddy's gravestone, followed by another and another. Scowling softly in the morning breeze, she chewed on her lip and let her thoughts run to nowhere in particular. She didn't want to be thinking about nothing right now except stones. Yeah, small lumps of grey rock because she was going to be a kick ass gravestone decorator. Her daddy had always been pretty taken with shit like that. Rocks, fossils and shells were his greatest buddies and he liked to collect them straight off rolling sand dunes and picturesque beaches. Had she really just thought up the word 'picturesque'? Damn it, her brain had been infected by that ugly woman in the house who kept batting her eyelashes and wiggling her lumpy boulders at Jimmy. It was real sick to watch and she felt like she was gonna puke just thinking about it.

"Daddy, its mama's funeral tomorrow an' Ah don't wanna go," she muttered, making sure the stones were lined up with equal spaces between them. "Ya think she would hate meh more if Ah skipped out on it? Ah know ya can't answer with words but a sign would be real good." She waited a while and looked around searchingly. "God's got ya on a real tight leash ain't he? Ah know ya don't like arguin' or nothin', daddy, but Ah need ya to tell God where tah go. Ah can't talk to Jimmy about this 'cause he's tryin' to be strong an' he's got that dragon snappin' at his pants."

Huffing and shaking her head, she knew her daddy was never going to answer her question. "Ya lucky Ah like ya, ya know. Most folks who ignore meh get a real load of words chucked at 'em." Releasing a pent up sigh, she returned her unhappy gaze to the headstone. "Stuff at school's gettin' worse an' Ah don't wanna go back. Not now they've got somethin' else tah puke at meh. That lil bitch said mama was crazy an' ya'd died just tah get away from her. They said ya were sick of havin' meh as a daughter, too. Ah know ya always said it made meh a better person when Ah ignored shit like that, but daddy, when Ah saw Mercedes in the store yesterday Ah wanted to knock her perfect teeth down her throat. Jimmy understood though, he was a real big brother an' Ah loved him more for it. Don't tell him Ah said that though 'cause he'll get a fat head an' everythin'."

Biting down on her lower lip, Anna wiped a smudge of dirt from her daddy's birth date and studied the lettered engravings on the stone. "Ah like havin' Jimmy back, but Ah want ya more, daddy. Why'd ya have tah leave meh here? What'd Ah do wrong an' does mama still hate meh? Shit, do ya hate meh? Ah ain't perfect none, but Ah try to be good an' everythin'. It ain't mah fault stuff keeps happenin' tah meh." Hearing the woman's creepy assed giggle, Anna whipped around and glared at her brother and that lady. Why the hell was he bringing her to their daddy's grave?

"Oh Logan," Emma Frost purred, jutting her chest out as she stopped walking and pretended the sight of the grave was bringing a tear to her eye. "How do you cope, dear?"

Logan's tense nostrils stole the scent of Anna's cold fury from the air surrounding them, and his eyes flickered to the teen sitting by their pa's grave. "Fine, Frost. We're coping fine." He cleared his throat and eyed his sister for a little longer. "Emma here wants to chat with you, darlin'. There's a school out on the East Coast I think you're going to like."

Anna's eyes narrowed and she hopped to her feet, ready to launch an attack on her brother with her barbed wire tongue. "We ain't even buried mama yet an' ya tryin' to get rid of meh!" she yelled at him, stabbing her finger in the air and pointing at his way. "Ah ain't goin' nowhere with no floozy 'cause this is mah home, ya ass! Ah got nothin' left but this place! Ah ain't got nobody neither!" She sucked in a string of tears and ran away from the scene, not wanting to chat to her daddy now they were here.

"Anna!" Logan called after his sister, heaving a sigh as he watched her disappear into the woods. "That wasn't what I was saying, darlin'!"

"Did she call me a floozy?" Emma gasped in horror, smoothing her hands across her gentle curves and instantly stricken with disgust. "I'm no floozy! Logan, tell her I'm not a –"

"Can it, Frost," he grunted, nodding at his pa's grave before jogging after his sister, and leaving Emma to her own thoughts. He'd be damned if he let himself drive his last surviving family member away.

Emma Frost rolled her eyes at the grave. "Are you proud you raised your son this way?" she tutted, crossing her arms and returning to the hideous appearing house, almost tempted to leave without a word. After all, this was simply a waste of her precious time.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Six years ago...<strong>_

Anna sat in her mucky, muddy and overgrown hideout in a sheltered spot in the middle of the dark woods. She tried not to pay any attention to the black shadows crawling all her around her, but found herself curling up on the ground and trying to hide from them. When she was in her room, the dark never scared her none, but now it was everywhere and real scary. Her butt hurt too and that wasn't good none. A twig snapping to her right made the girl jump and her breathing calmed as her ears strained to listen to the sounds coming closer. "Go away, monsters!" she yelled, clenching her fists and getting ready to fight.

"It's only me, kiddo," Logan sighed, fighting to crawl further into the small den. Hell, he was getting too old for this shit. His leather jacket was speared by a prickly branch and he growled, unsheathing a sharp claw and shredding the bush to ribbons_._

"Ya can go away, too. Ah hate ya, Jimmy. Ya hurt meh an' made meh cry!" she sniffled, dirtying her pale face as she rubbed the tears away.

"We all hate somethin', but don't go hating me," he whispered sadly, finally crawling inside the girl's hideout and sheathing his claw. "I'm not trying to make you feel that way, darlin'."

"But ya spanked meh loads!" Anna sobbed loudly, glaring at her brother in the darkness. "An' it hurt 'cause ya an old folk with real big hands."

"Yeah, yeah I spanked you," the feral confirmed, pulling her into his arms and hugging the life out of her. "You know why I did it though?"

The girl shook her head and cried against Jimmy's chest. "Ah bet it's 'cause ya wanted the chocolate an' green mud to yaself or somethin' 'cause ya don't live at home no more."

Snorting, Logan rocked the kid gently in his arms. He wasn't one for mushy displays like this, but this little girl was his kid sister and he hated to see her cry. "No darlin', I wouldn't touch your chocolate or green mud; I'm too scared of you when you're angry," he joked, kissing the top of her head.

"Why'd ya do it then?" she asked with a sniffle, her sobbing calming until she was nearly tearless.

"Because I don't want you to think acting like that was okay. I know you're hurting over everything and I'm sorry I snapped at you, but you can't go around talking about ma like that." He brushed her hair away from her eyes with a swift, but gentle motion. "I'm your big brother, kiddo, and sometimes I've got to teach you right from wrong. That doesn't mean I like seeing you upset like this, though."

"Then why'd ya make meh cry?" Anna questioned in a tiny voice.

"I've been around a lot longer than you and I've watched you grow, darlin'. I know what works with you and how to get you to behave. But, I also want you to think about what you're doing before you do it. I've seen how that girl, what's her name…" He frowned and fell silent, trying to think of the brat's title. "Mercedes. I've seen how Mercedes acts and I don't want you to be like her."

Anna's nose wrinkled at the mention of the blonde-haired girl and she rested her head over her brother's heart. "Ah don't wanna be her. She's mean an' makes fun of meh."

That was news to Logan and he raised an eyebrow. "Does she now?" he said, frowning and hugging his sister even tighter. "She acts that way again and you tell ma and pa."

Nodding, a tired Anna-Marie didn't feel scared of the darkness or shadows anymore. Her big brother was here and she felt safe. "Jimmy?" she whispered.

"Yeah darlin'?" he grunted, rubbing her back with a sigh. "What is it?"

She pouted grumpily, real deep in her grouchy mood. "Did ya make meh cry 'cause ya love meh?"

He thought for a moment and slowly nodded. "Yeah, something like that. I love you, but I don't make you cry because of that. I want you to be a good upstanding citizen when you're fully grown and better than that Mercedes brat."

Yawning, the girl curled closer to her brother's warmth. "What's 'brat' mean?"

"It means the Wolverine don't like you," he answered, scooting out of the den and holding his sister away from the branches.

"Are ya the only Wolverine in the world, Jimmy?" she murmured as her eyes dropping closed.

Smiling, he looked down at the sleepy girl and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "The only Wolverine that matters to you, kiddo."

* * *

><p><strong>Present day...<strong>

With a sense of strong, rough and ready déjà vu playing through his mind, Logan stalked along the wooded path and wondered how the hell it had come this far. He had never imagined his parents would be gone before his sister was grown. How could people say there was a God when this was handed to a kid Anna's age? A bitter growl rolling from his lips, he stopped by the secret hideout and eyed the prickly bush warily. He wasn't about to get attacked by that damn thing again.

"Leave meh alone, Wolverine," Anna muttered, turning away from him when she spotted her brother out the corner of her eyes. "Ya don't get tah say sorry this time 'cause ya did meh real wrong."

Crouching down, he peered into the den and said his apologies anyway. "Darlin', I'm trying to do what's best for you here. I know the timing was probably off a little bit, but I'm thinking it would do you some good to get away from here. I've done some work with the X-Men, kiddo, and they're a great bunch of people who want to help idiots like me. There's a slim chance you're going follow in my footsteps and if that happens, I want you to be around a group who understand."

"Ah ain't gonna be no mutant," she answered huffily, glancing over her shoulder with furious eyes. "Why ya gotta mess everythin' up more, Jimmy? Ah lost daddy, Ah lost mama an' now ya wanna leave meh too! What the heck did Ah do wrong, huh? Was it the fight yesterday? Is that why ya wanna ship meh off tah some freaks, huh?

"Anna-Marie, they're not freaks," he grunted, planting his butt on the ground and watching her closely. Closing his eyes for a moment, he scrubbed a hand over his tired face. "I don't want to get rid of you. If ya go to that school, we're going rent a place nearby. You don't think I'm going to let you get away from me that easily, do you?" He smirked, sighing when she didn't crack a smile.

Lifting her tearful face, tears sprung from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she tried to crowbar her unhappy feelings into words. "Fine, ya don't wanna get rid of meh." She shrugged, hugging her knees to her chest. "But ya still can't make meh leave daddy an' mama, Jimmy."

"Darlin'," the feral whispered, choosing his words carefully. "After we bury ma tomorrow there isn't anything here for us now. You see what I'm getting at? Once the funeral is over, pa's going to step up to the plate and take care of her."

Choking on a depressed sob, Anna's eyes locked with her brother's. "He's gonna do a better then meh ain't he? 'Cause Ah killed mama. It's mah fault she's gone an' Ah want her back real bad, Jimmy."

A concerned sigh passing his lips, Logan gently guided his sister out of the undergrowth and wrapped his burly arms around her small frame. "You didn't kill her. You hear me, kid? You looked after her and her sickness got in the way. There isn't anything you could have done to stop her doing what she did, darlin'. Sometimes things like that happen and that's the way the world works, but don't you go blaming yourself."

"She said she hated meh" the girl whimpered, breaking down and crying her southern heart out. "That night Ah last saw her; she hated meh an' said other stuff."

He rubbed Anna's back and his face fell into a solemn shadow. Hell, they were going to have to do a lot of talking to clear this mess up. He knew what his ma's putdowns could be like when the sickness took hold of her mind. "It's okay," he mumbled into her hair, his eyes glazing over as he held the crying girl in arms. "You've got me and I'm not going anywhere."


	6. Down to Earth with a Bump

**For this chapter to make sense to anybody who has read this story before, you might want to scan through chapter two. It's been edited and new parts have been added, too. Also, thank you to the following reviewers: gaben, Kima (Her mutation is just starting), Well, Ryro, Jamie, Jeannie, Lychee, Case, Sweetdreams, Frankie, Lautner, Guest, Dreaming and Vegetable. Sorry for the time it has taken me to update this story! **

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><p><strong>Down to Earth with a Bump<strong>

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><p>The chest freezer was overflowing with calorie-packed food as Logan slid the last of the meat feast pizzas into a lone space beside fifty southern fried chicken strips. He was skilled at fitting the packets together while he fought to close the lid on the food he'd spent a small fortune on. "Damn it," he grunted, stopping to light a lazy cigar.<p>

He shook his head and reached forward, grabbing half the chicken strips and deciding Anna needed to eat anyway. The kid used to consume her weight in these things so he figured she would have no problem helping him out. He tucked the boxes under his arm, the cigar smoke billowing thickly around the spruced up woodshed as he finally managed to shut the freezer and keep it that way. "That's more like it," he added impatiently, making his way slowly towards the old farmhouse again.

Each step Logan took his head started to feed on his sister's state of mind. After the fight at the store she had shut down and wasn't talking to him. She hadn't growled a word in hours now and he wasn't expecting her to because tomorrow was the day of the funeral. He still remembered how she'd reacted when their pa had been buried, and it hadn't been pleasant.

The night was bringing in a fair threat of frost and he sighed, knowing he would need to toss a few more logs onto the fire tonight. He'd be getting little sleep and he knew he needed to keep an eye on Anna. She was locking herself away from him and he wanted to stop her shutting him out before she had to face the facts that were sinking into their relationship because their mother wasn't coming back. "Anna!" he called loudly, making his way into the family home. "Come down here, darlin'. I need help with the stove. You don't want me cooking alone; I'll burn the house down to the ground."

"Good," Anna muttered huffily, sitting at the top of the gloomy staircase. She hugged her knees to her flat chest and there were unshed tears bubbling in her sharp emerald gaze while she stared at the wall in front of her. "Let it burn. Let it burn an' burn an' burn 'cause Ah don't care none. Ah don't care about nothin' anymore."

Logan heaved an unsettled sigh as he paused at the bottom of the stairs. "Kid, you don't mean that. You love this house, and hell, look what I've got here, huh?" He held up a stack of frozen fried chicken boxes like he was proudly gripping the key to the nearest brewery. "Twenty-five pieces of chicken for you to munch on. I won't even try and stop you eating them all. There's some chocolate ice cream for you to tuck into after and there's even a bottle of that spicy sauce you took a liking for around here somewhere. I haven't emptied all the shopping bags yet, darlin'. Maybe you can help me with that?"

The depressed teen scowled in the darkness and glared at her big brother's shadow crowding the wood beyond her feet. "Ah ain't helpin' with nothin'. An' why the heck would Ah put that sauce on mah ice cream? Ya've lost ya fool mind, Jimmy." She dropped her tearful gaze to her fingertips and swallowed the sizeable lump tumbling in her hoarse throat. "Ah don't wanna talk tah ya, Ah don't wanna talk tah nobody 'cept mama!"

"Darlin'," he said, his shoulders sagging in worry. "Give me a second, would you? I've got to cook the chicken before it starts to defrost. Even I know you need to eat a good, decent meal and you won't be getting that if I don't cook this." He entered the kitchen with a sense of dread because he knew his little sister was going to cause a ruckus tonight. It'd be a quiet ruckus, but it was still trouble and he didn't want her riding on upset. She was hurting and he couldn't stand it. He was supposed to protect her from the world and he had failed to do just that.

Shaking his head, he growled about his ma as he turned on the stove, ripping open the boxes and dumping the chicken on four separate baking trays. "That should do," he grumbled, tossing the trays into the oven and slamming it shut. "And kid, I know you squirt the sauce onto your ice cream so don't give me attitude over it, you hear? I know you're hurting and you have every right to be angry, but I won't have you being rude to me when I'm doing the best I can."

Anna flipped off the dark space as her dumbass brother ran his mouth like a herd of Canadian donkeys. What the heck did he know anyway? Yeah, she loved that kicking sauce on chocolate ice cream loads, but that didn't matter none because her stomach had stopped working. She couldn't eat, she didn't want to eat, and her heart was sinking to her bony toes. Her head hated life and her heart wanted her mama real bad. She just wanted her mama back, and she wanted her daddy, too.

"The foods in," Logan told her, stepping outside the kitchen and reluctantly snuffing out his cigar in a nearby ashtray. "If it tastes like smoke, it's not burned, it's from the cigar I was puffing on," he snorted, smirking at the stairs. "You remember when you were little, darlin'? You hated my cooking because I'd get stressed out and smoke a whole heap of cigars while trying to work the stove."

When he didn't receive a grouched answer he approached his sister with furrowed features and quiet steps. "Come on, talk to me. I'm worried, kiddo. I know you're hurting, and I want to know all about it." He climbed the stairs, the old as dirt wood creaking underneath his weight as he offered her a hand and a slight smile. "Let's go pig out in front of the TV, huh? There are chips, dips, chicken and ice cream with our names on. Look, the night before a funeral doesn't need to be depressing, kid. Ma wouldn't have wanted it this way, you know. She wasn't always crying and depressed, she used to be the life and soul of all the parties around these parts."

A raging Anna struggled to stand up without drowning her bare feet in tears. She slapped at her brother's hand, pushing it away from her and choking on a devastated sob. "Mama's dead an' ya wanna throw a party?! Ya a real sick asshole, Jimmy! It's ya fault she's dead! Ya killed mama 'cause ya weren't here tah look after us an' ya killed daddy 'cause ya wouldn't help on the farm none! An' if ya stay here ya gonna end up killin' meh too! Ah hate ya! Ah hate ya, James Howlett!"

"Anna," Logan muttered, watching his kid sister spiral further into a sea of depression. "That's not what I meant, darlin'." He stepped forward, trying to pull her into a bone crushing hug, but by that time she'd pushed him away again and had hightailed it down the dark hallway. He heard a door slam shut with enough force that it caused a crack to appear in the plaster work outside their parents' bedroom. It was at that moment he realised she'd gone and locked herself in their ma and pa's room. "Shit," he whispered, scrubbing a hand over his tired and worn face. "What do I do now?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Fourteen years ago…<strong>_

Logan was home for another one of his famous weekend trips and with a sigh; he climbed the staircase in an attempt to avoid the fight downstairs. His ma was having another episode and he could hear his pa trying to calm the situation down with pleading, promises and cries of, "Put the plate down! If that one hits me, I'll have to call your doctor!"

The young feral sometimes wished he was deaf at times like this. He could hear every word being said between his parents and he didn't like it one bit. As he swung his duffle bag over his shoulder, he stopped at the top of the stairs and sniffed the air dangerously. There was another scent in here that didn't belong. He trailed after it and growled when it took him straight to his little sister's nursery. Anna was nine-months-old now and she was the best thing he had going in his life, and as his hackles rose, he threw the heavy door open and spotted Victor looming over the handmade crib.

Sabretooth's eyes narrowed but he never looked away from the sleeping rugrat. His piercing stare traced the shadows over the baby's pale face and he rolled his shoulders, preparing himself for a fight if one came his way. "What, you're not going to say hi to your big brother, Jimmy?" he murmured deeply, sarcasm scratching at the surface of his words. "I was hoping for a hug, too."

"Can it," Logan grunted, entering the room with a dark scowl as he tossed his bag onto the rocking chair close to his side. "All I want to know is when you're leaving, and it had better be soon."

Victor's rugged face wore an amused smirk when he finally eyed his brother. "You call that fully grown?" he commented mockingly, his gaze boring into the man he hadn't seen in over eight years. "You're still a short ass, James. Where'd all the talk of growing taller get you, boy?"

The younger feral growled and stood his ground with a furrowed brow. "I told you to can it, Vic," he whispered threateningly, balling his weather-beaten fists at his side. "And who asked you to visit? I don't remember giving you a call so you can come down here and cause more damn trouble."

"Trouble?" he said, his sharp nails extending in a show of dominance. "I'm not here for trouble, brother. I heard I had a new sibling, so I made a quick detour," he admitted, his voice lacking emotion or happiness. His eyes snapped to the baby again and he watched her sleeping. "I'm just hoping she doesn't get that fucking woman's craziness."

Logan growled, taking a daring step forwards. "Are you talking about our ma?" he snarled, the vein in his forehead starting to throb as he drew in a sharp breath through his clenched teeth. "You better not be, Victor. You know how I feel about that."

"She's fucking crazy, boy. I'm not going to pussy foot around anything. Grow a pair of balls and deal with it," Victor demanded, cracking his knuckles one by one. "She's been crazy since the day John died. There's no helping her and there's no fucking point fighting with me over this. The damn woman's beyond help and further down the line you'll be agreeing with me."

Wolverine snorted gruffly. "Yeah, that'll be the day, Victor. Both me and Anna will be sitting down and talking about how we both agree with you. Got anymore good jokes to tell, huh? I could do with a laugh because if you hadn't heard, my ma and pa's marriage is in trouble."

Victor shrugged. "Not my problem. The woman bore me and that's all there is to it. I'm not getting involved in anything else, Jimmy. I shouldn't even be here, but there was a window open and I decided to come visit the cub here."

"A window of opportunity, or did you just decide to break into the house when somebody left a window open?" he asked his older sibling, his muscles still tense.

"Both," Sabretooth muttered, turning his back on the crib. He stared at his brother and looked right through him as the fighting continued downstairs. "But my time's up. Let's just say I've got better shit to do then hang around here listening to your bitching and their fucking yelling." His fingernails were short again as he produced a piece of ripped paper from his coat pocket. "This here's a contact number. Don't give it to anybody, especially not that crazy woman. You do just that and I'll be back to kick your ass."

Logan shook his head in disbelief. "You're leaving?" he asked, disappointed. "I actually thought you were going to stick around for once, Victor. I don't know, maybe be a man and help your family out. You know where you can stick that piece of paper."

Victor pushed past his younger brother and tossed the tatty strip of paper onto a small changing table to his left. He paused at the door, reluctant to keep talking because it was time to leave, he had commitments elsewhere and there was money to be made. "I'm not cut out for this shit, Jimmy. No hard feelings, hey? The woman's damaged goods, your pa's running himself ragged without a hope in hell of fixing her, and do you know what your job is?" He rested his hand on the brass doorknob and sighed. "Keep watch over the cub. You just keep good watch over her. I'm not going to be around, but you will be, so work on keeping her safe. If there's ever any trouble coming Anna-Marie's way use the number. I'm going to keep the line open just in case, but she don't need to know about me, boy. Let my memory die and that'll be the best thing for both of you."

Wolverine listened to the ramblings of a man who was walking out on his family and he didn't say a word. But as he heard Victor walking away he knew he had to say something because the man wasn't going to cut and run without being told what he was going to miss out on. "I'm going to watch over her," he stated firmly, venturing closer to the crib. "She'll have one brother here to help raise her and I won't have her thinking I'm a coward too. Go on, go. Nobody here's going to be shedding tears, Vic. I'm betting Anna's going to be better off without you. No, in fact, I'm sure of it."

There was no reply from his older sibling and after a while his scent was beginning to fade from the house, which calmed Logan's feral side. "I best keep the number though," he added, glancing down at his little sister and tapping her button nose. "Because you still smell naughty, darlin'."

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Present Day…<strong>_

Logan settled down outside the bedroom door with a A4 sized piece of lined paper in his hands. He placed it in front of the space at the bottom of the door and carefully slid it under. "Do you see that, darlin'?" he asked gently, resting his forehead against the grained wood of the door. "I want you to take a pen and write your feelings down. I know you don't want to talk and I know full well you probably hate me at the moment, but hell, I'm trying here, okay? I know pa used this on both of us when we were kids and I'm hoping it's going to work its magic now."

He heard a shuffling inside the room and he hoped his kid sister was fetching a pen. Their ma was always hoarding pens because she used to have a thing for crosswords when she'd still been healthy. "And when you've finished writing down whatever you want pass it back under the door, kiddo. Hopefully we can start to work these problems out without having to shout and kick off. You know, tomorrows going to be hard, but - "

He stopped talking when the paper was pushed out again and he grimaced as he started to read the page. "Darlin', there's no need to write that type of language." But his heart sunk when he read the rest of the note. She wasn't going to the funeral, she wasn't leaving the room and she hated her family and the whole world to boot.

The Canadian was lost for words and he stayed outside the door for a long time as he tried to coax her out. She wouldn't move though and he didn't think it was healthy for her to stay inside the room their ma had killed herself in. Though, he couldn't do anything to make her leave and he wasn't about to kick the door down and deal with things that way. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything, okay?" he said gruffly, the worry bleeding through his words. "Your chicken is getting cold too, darlin'. If you're hungry, you should pop down."

He went downstairs and kept his line of sight on his boots as he walked, refusing to catch the faces on the framed photographs that decorated the walls either side of him. The rot that was settling in his relationship with his sister was almost too much for Logan to take and he growled lowly, rooting around his jacket pocket for a cigar and lighter. His rough fingers caught hold of his wallet instead and he frowned, popping it open and plucking a scrappy piece of paper from the depths of his memories.

He scanned Victor's contact details for the longest time before he was spurred into action. All it took was another read of Anna's note and he was picking up the phone. There wasn't a chance in hell he could do this alone and he was going to make sure their other sibling was dragged into this mess, too. The fate of their little sister wasn't going to weigh on only Logan's shoulders because he was ready to share the burden of this. And anyway, Victor had every right to know his ma had died and it was time the asshole came down to Mississippi to help out for once.

Sighing heavily, Logan dialled the number and held the phone to his ear. He cleared his gravelly throat when the line sprung to life and he dropped onto the brown leather couch with a serious stare. "It's me," he said. "She's in trouble."


	7. Stick to Your Ribs

**Thanks to Kima, gaben and Raven for the reviews. **

**Oh, and Kima - I usually have a lot of half written stuff on my laptop. Ideas come and go, so I write what I can down and then when I grow bored of one story, or I get stuck, I work on another. For example, half of this was written the day after I posted the last chapter. But between then and now I've also been working on a trio of short stories that will live in the movie section with Marie and Logan. I'm really looking forward to unleashing them, but I'm going to wait until all three stories are finished first because it will be easier for the readers, plus there will be no waiting around for months on end! **

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><p><strong>Stick to Your Ribs<strong>

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><p>Anna sunk further under the overweight patchwork quilt, and each brightly coloured thread dragged her towards real long forgotten memories stuffed full of her mama. The eccentric woman had gone and made this bedding when she had stopped going to town and hitting the front pew at the local church. Of course she weren't punching the wood none, she only sat there and opened the Bible, then scolded the preacher loads for eyeing up any of the pretty ladies. That was her mama through and through; she hated perverted fellas and could swing an umbrella like Babe Ruth on acid. One time she had even knocked the shock out of the man who had a farm a couple of corn fields over. He'd gone and called her mama a name that weren't good, so the tough lady had nearly scared his eyeballs out of his face when she'd smacked him with a pale pink umbrella. His nose had started to swell and a young Anna had giggled until she was drowning in tears. Now, there was nothing but tears and tears and more tears.<p>

Every last shred of her hurt ached for her mama to come back because a couple of days ago the lady had been alive and sleeping in this bed. But she was gone and she weren't gonna come back 'cause she'd packed a bullet in her brain and jumped the road to Heaven. The girl hoped there was a world beyond the clouds, though she didn't believe in no God. How could she when she was an orphan? She was nothing but a miserable orphan who weren't about to leave this bed for all the ice cream in the world. The funeral could drop dead too 'cause she wasn't going. In fact, nobody was going to push her mama away into the cold ground neither.

Anna finally puffed out her cheeks, wondering how long she'd been hiding under the tangled, lumpy bedding. Jimmy had stopped trying to talk to her so she was guessing it had been a while, but that didn't matter because she was never going to talk to him again. With the shadows in the room catching her sleepy attention, the sullen girl drew her knees closer to her slender body and salty depression pooled in her emerald eyes as she felt a wave of tiredness destroy the last of her thoughts. She fell asleep, thinking of her mama and daddy, and how much she was missing them.

Logan, meanwhile, was pacing the front porch with his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. He looked gruffer as usual as he cocked his head to the side and sniffed the air. His sharp hearing focused on the solid footsteps behind him and he sighed deeply in the hazy moonlight. "Got a lighter? I can't find mine."

Victor Creed approached the farmhouse, his eyes searching the peeling paint on the wooden cladding until his cold stare landed on the window above his head. He caught the scent of death and Anna-Marie, and he scowled, tossing a small packet of matches in his brother's direction. "You ruined my night," he stated, his glare still pinned on the bedroom window that had belonged to his crazy ma.

Wolverine cleared his throat and caught the flimsy packet of matches. "Business?" he murmured, raising an eyebrow at the name of the motel printed on the packaging as he snapped a match free.

"Hooker," the older feral answered, finally looking at his brother and climbing up the creaking porch steps. "Big in the chest department too, and you know how hard it is to come by those types in the middle of a seedy fucking bar you've just trashed."

The Canadian snorted and lit his cigar with the strike of a match. "Can't say that I do, Victor," he said, handing him back the matches. "I grew up and I'm glad to hear you've done the same." He inhaled the smoke and leaned with his back against the porch railing as he glanced at his brother. "How have you been?"

Victor dropped the matches into his coat pocket and his eyes darted to the man beside him. "Small talk, Jimmy? Is that your way of admitting you fucked up without me here to kick your ass?" He set a cigarette between his snarling lips and dug around for his matches again. "I told you to watch over her real good!"

"I did," Logan snapped, his eyes narrowing at the chewing out he was on the receiving end of. "I kept Anna safe and don't turn this into point scoring, Victor. Ma's dead, damn it. She didn't want me around so I thought if I gave her some space -"

The fair-haired mutant railed over the words with another snarl. "You fucked up, Jimmy! Your pa gave her some space and he ended up croaking it in the barn and that sure as shit made everything worse for the damn woman. You knew she had more holes in her head than Swiss cheese and then you let her shoot another one through her fucking skull!"

Logan growled harshly and turned to face his brother. "This is my fault, huh? Do you think I knew what would happen if I walked away for a while? Ma didn't want me here and I thought Anna would be better off without the fighting. I feel guilty enough over what's happened, you asshole, but this wasn't my fault. And where do you think this is going to get us? Blame me all you want, but I don't want that hurt kid upstairs sinking into a hole of depression because we're more interested in trading insults."

"You call that insulting me?" Victor responded lazily, inhaling a cloud of cigarette smoke. He watched the match burn between his fingers and sighed. "I've been called worse than an 'asshole' in my time, boy." He let the silence calm the tension until he wanted to fill the space with a question. "What's she like?"

"The kid?" he chewed on his cigar, deep in thought and smiling slightly. "She's a spitfire. You should have seen her when she was a little tyke. She was into everything and anything. Hell, she wanted to be a pirate when she was four. She ran around throwing mud pies at the girls in her school when she was five. And when she was six she packed her rucksack up and disappeared. I don't know why I'm telling you about that one, though." His eyes flickered to the dying flame about to burn his brother's fingers, and he chomped on his cigar. "You brought her back eventually."

Victor didn't answer. The fire doused his skin with the stench of burning flesh and he snuffed the flame out between his fingertips, grimacing. He remembered that time real well.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nine years ago…<strong>_

Anna gripped her mama's umbrella in her right hand and huffed, using it as a really tall walking stick as she stormed through the woods. She'd left her good old home 'cause Jimmy wouldn't let her have more ice cream. It weren't fair none so she was gonna run away and find a new bunch of family folks. They'd let her and her teddy have more ice cream because they weren't Jimmy Howlett.

A wall of muscle and brutal strength stood in front of the runaway, blocking her muddy path with a dangerous scowl and a pair of large feet. He was staring down at her, his eyes pinned on the rucksack she was dragging over the rocks.

The little spitfire came to a stop and lifted her gaze up and up and up until she saw the fat's boy's face. "Ya in mah way," she said loudly, poking his knee with her mama's pale pink umbrella. "Ya've gotta move 'cause Ah said so an' everythin'."

Victor smirked, amused by the kid who was dressed in clashing colours. "You got spunk, Anna-Marie," he rumbled, his finger darting to the route she'd marched along. "But move your ass that way. Go home, girl. I don't know what the hell Jimmy's playing at, but you shouldn't be out here alone. Don't you know it's dangerous?"

The pint-sized bundle of trouble peered up at the strange man-boy and matched his earlier glare. "Ya look like a girl folk, ya girl," she pointed out, her grumpy gaze searching his long hair for a bow. "Only real ugly ladies have hair like yours."

"I'm gonna take that because you're kin," he grumbled, still pointing behind her grimly. "You've insulted me, now get home, go to your room and stay there. I ain't playing here, Pup. Get. Home."

Anna shook her head moodily and stepped around the boy-girl folk who couldn't brush his hair. "Ah'm runnin'away an' Ah've gotta go now." She waved goodbye with the umbrella because she was real polite and then she started to hop away. "Ah'm goin' tah mah new family 'cause they're gonna lemme have loads of ice cream."

"Ice cream?!" Victor snarled, stalking angrily after the brat who was disobeying him, "You're putting yourself in danger for ice cream? Even Jimmy weren't as stupid when he was young'un." He followed after the bouncing kid, on heavy boots and a growl of irritation. Why did their first proper meeting have to play out like this? "I get it, you're dumb, everybody's like that at your age, but get yourself home, Anna-Marie!"

The girl huffed and pouted sullenly over her shoulder. "Go away, fat girl. Ah ain't allowed tah talk tah strangers none," she said, poking out her tongue at him.

"Good to know the boy taught you something of value," he grumbled, watching her stamp her feet as she kicked her way through the broken sticks, clumps of rocks and mud. "But you're making a real big mistake here, girl. Nobody ignores me when I give 'em orders, especially not you. I get it, you don't know who the hell I am, but that don't mean you can wander away from the house and decide you're not going back. You're what, five now?"

"Ah'm six an' everythin'," the mini Howlett piped up proudly as she strolled along, hopping every now and then. "Ah'm gonna be seven when it's another year an' Santa's been." She scrunched up her nose, trying to remember when. "It ain't cold when it's mah birthday 'cause it's in July."

"Yeah, well I'm a lot older than that, Pup," Victor sighed, beating down the temper he was close to losing. He snapped a long arm of scrappy branches from his line of sight and grimaced as he caught up with the chatty thorn in his side. "I'm old enough to be your pa and that means you ought to be returning home already. Jimmy's going to be choking on his cigars when he realises he's lost you."

"Ah dunno what ya goin' on 'bout," Anna answered slowly, a confused look stampeding over her heart-shaped face. "An' ya a real funny girl."

"I ain't a girl, I've just been too busy to visit a barber, damn it." The monster of a man sucked in a rope of short breaths until he calmed down because she was his little sister, and he didn't want to kill her. "You need to get home now, Anna-Marie. Go the hell home."

She shook her head and stopped walking so she could stare at the big girl. "Ah'm goin' tah get some ice cream an' it's gonna be chocolate," she answered, grinning widely and jumping up and down. "Chocolate, it's gonna be chocolate, an' if ya a real good girl Ah'm gonna give ya some too!"

"Pup, stop with the shouting and get home!" he roared, stooping down and slamming his palm roughly against her backside. "Get home before I bare your ass and beat it with my hand!"

Anna stopped yelling loads like a loud girl and yelped and whimpered instead. The boy-girl had hurt her and the fat tears rolled down her pale, shocked looking face. Her bottom lip trembled in real big fright and she stumbled backwards, trying to escape the monster folk because she was scared.

"No you don't," Victor said, feeling like shit as he grabbed hold of her and picked her up. He tossed the umbrella to the ground and jiggled her a little in his arms, trying to plug the flood of tears. "You don't run from me, Pup. I know I just rattled the hell outta you, but I ain't sorry I did it, you know why?"

The girl sobbed and cried ever harder, her butt hurting and her bottom lip wobbling loads and loads. "Ah want Jimmy, mama an' daddy!" she howled, kicking her feet and losing her backpack as it slipped out of her hand.

He caught the rucksack and sighed, cradling the screaming kid. "Hush up," he ordered, though he'd finally wrangled a calmer tone to speak with. "I can't explain nothing if you keep bawling like a cub whose lost his tail." When his words didn't help matters, he sat on a fallen tree and held the girl in his arms, waiting for her to calm herself down. "Now this is why I walked out all those years ago," he added, mostly to himself.

It took some time, but she finally stopped wailing and kept up the sniffling instead, which made him smudge her tears with his thumb. "C'mon pup, this ain't like our family," he said, clearing his throat when she stared up at him with watery eyes. "Look, I ain't about to say I'm sorry for what happened. I told you to get home and you wouldn't listen to me, would you?"

Anna shook her head with a large sniffle. He was real right 'cause she wouldn't go home none. She wanted to go somewhere with loads of ice cream and no Jimmy Howlett instead.

Victor gave her a look of understanding and could see they were finally getting somewhere. "You've got to listen to me just like you'd listen to your ma, pa or Jimmy, understand?"

"Who are ya, ya boy girl?" the youngster asked, her bottom lip still trembling as she sniffled and cried quietly, wanting to know where the monster had come from.

"Nobody," the tough cage fighter muttered, looking away from her miserable gaze. "I'm nobody, pup. Only passing through these woods while I search for my next job and it's a good thing I was walking these parts when I did. Anybody could have snatched you and run before Jimmy had even realised your ass was on the loose." He growled at the thought and held her even tighter. "Both me and James have got some enemies out there and you'd be fodder for them, damn it."

Anna rubbed at her eyes and was as confused as ever. She didn't know what the fat folk was going on about and yawned as she tried to figure his real funny talk out. He said stuff like Jimmy did and most of the time she didn't understand him neither.

Victor stared down at her and frowned, the lines on his forehead wrinkling. "You get some sleep, pup, you smell tired. When you wake up you'll be home and I'll be long gone." He watched her eyelids grown heavier and heavier, and he added another group of words he hoped were fit for the occasion. "I'm sorry I had to make you cry though, Anna-Marie. I don't like seeing those tears drying on your cheeks." He stood up when she started to doze, grabbing the rucksack and leaving the umbrella. "But when I tell you to do something, you do it. I'm hoping you'll remember that in future because I know we're going to be butting heads again. You're stubborn just like me and Jimmy, pup, and I ain't sure if that's a good, decent position to be in."

He mulled over the time he'd spent with his youngest kin as he made his way to the farmhouse. The weather overhead was beginning to threaten a storm and he could smell a worried as hell Logan scouring the woods in a pit of panic. "Serves him damn right," he murmured, climbing the porch steps and letting himself in the house. "Here's hoping he learns to watch over the girl from now on or I'll be back to kick his ass next time."

Minutes later, Victor had put Anna on her bed and he'd stepped away, standing by the window and looking out at the falling rain. "Looks like it's time I left you again, pup," he said, watching the storm clouds roll in. "Jimmy's gonna be retracing his steps in the hopes you've come back now the weather's turned." He reluctantly stalked to the bedroom door and paused, digging inside his coat pocket and depositing a ten dollar bill on the bedside table. "Get some ice cream with that," he added, knowing the sleeping kid couldn't hear him, but hoping it made up for him scaring her earlier. "And don't go on anymore goddamn walks on your own."

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Present day…<strong>_

"I thanked you, you know," Logan admitted, snuffing his cigar out onto the railing. "When I found her sleeping on the bed, I said thanks, but you'd already hightailed it."

Victor climbed down the steps and shoved his hands into his coat pockets, ready to leave. "There was no hightailing, Jimmy, I just had better things to do. Anyway, I figured you'd learned a lesson and would keep good watch of the girl now you knew she liked to wander."

"I sent her to her room that day," he sighed, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know she was going to run away while I was out tinkering with one of my old Harley's in the garage. She was throwing a fit because I wouldn't let her -"

"Pig out on more ice cream," Victor finished for him and kicked at a stone. "Yeah, I remember her yammering on about it, Jimmy. Anyway, this has been great, but it's time I was heading on out of here. There's nothing I can do and you know it."

Logan's brow furrowed and he followed after his brother with a growl. "No you don't," he said, shaking his head. "You're not walking out on us again, Victor. There's more to this then our ma dying."

The older feral froze and turned around to face his rival. "What do you mean?"

"It's Anna," Logan grunted, slipping another unlit cigar between his lips. His eyes locked with his brother's and he spilled the rest of the story with a tight jaw. "When I took her to the store earlier today, she got into a fight with some girl she knew from school. I think she's going to be just like us, she's getting our mutation."

Victor glare dropped to his fingers and his fingernails extended as he thought everything over. "How do you know for sure, Jimmy?"

"I could smell it, Vic. The hair on the back of her neck was standing on end and she'd lost it," he explained, chomping on his cigar. "The scent of a feral spiked inside her when she was fighting and hell, I thought she was going to kill the other kid."

The other man grunted, and rolled his shoulders. "That's not going to make me stay, James. You can handle her coming into her mutation; it'll be a piece of cake."

"With the Garrets around to even the score?" he added, raising both his eyebrows and waiting for a reaction.

Victor's head whipped up and he snarled violently, storming towards the porch and taking his coat off as he went. "I'm staying," he said darkly, his eyes narrowing. "And those fuckers better keep their distance or I'll be snapping necks after the funeral."

Logan snorted and looked up at the last of the stars and the fading moon. He wasn't looking forward to later today when they buried their ma, or how Anna was going to react when she met Victor. "Hell," he muttered, heading back into the house. "It'll be fine, I hope."


	8. Just the Start

**Just the Start**

* * *

><p>It was the day of the funeral and a bleary-eyed Anna crawled out her Mama and Daddy's bed. Her heart was sinking, swirling and turning, and she felt , sick. So sick, if it'd been a school day, she would have chucked up her guts and showered the whole lousy town with lumps of gummy bears and peanut butter.<p>

She huffed loudly and dragged her socked feet over to the heavy wooden door, thinking a new thought with every step. Her mama was dead and gone, her daddy was even more dead and gone, and what about Jimmy? He was dead in the head and gone behind the eyes. That meant she was still pissed with him because she was and always would be. It was easier to be real angry with him then cry and sob like crazy on his shoulder.

"He don't deserve mah tears none anyway," she muttered to herself as she turned the chunky lock and opened the door. Sucking in a deep breath, she crept along the hall and avoided all the floorboards that would creak under her skinny frame, letting her brother know she was wandering around.

There wasn't anything in the world she needed today other than a jar of peanut butter and a spoon to eat it with. She was even hoping real bad they had the crunchy kind in the cupboard because she wanted to spoil herself without throwing too much effort at the world. There was no point thinking of the funeral because she weren't going, but she did want to lick something off a spoon. Why go to a funeral when she could stuff her pale cheeks with peanut butter instead?

She shuffled to the kitchen, her eyes ignoring the photos on the wall and her socks keeping her feet real warm. Her toes weren't cold today, but her heart was. The thoughts of her mama were pushed out her head when she reached the kitchen. There were some rustling sounds coming from the room and was she thinking Jimmy was down here with her, eating the fridge 'cause he was hurting too. That sounded real plausible to her, though when she peered through the crack in between the half opened door, she got one heck of a shock.

The figure was tall and his hair was blonde. She didn't know if he bleached it 'cause he came from California and loved to surf, but her heart nearly stopped in her chest. Who was he? Why was he here? And why the hell was he searching through her mama's fridge? He seemed real happy to eat everything in sight and she reached behind her, grabbing one of her mama's weighty umbrellas. Her mama loved to collect umbrellas and the guy in the kitchen was gonna get the biggest one shoved up his nose real soon.

She stepped inside the kitchen, biting her lip and moving the swing-door as carefully as she could. There weren't no way she was going to let him scare her before she scared him. Her heart was caught in her throat as she lifted the umbrella up high and moved closer to the burglar who was pigging out in her kitchen. His back was to her, he was leaning closer towards the fridge, helping himself to some meat, and she scowled. Yeah, this was her chance. She swung the umbrella forward and cracked it down on him.

The thief straightened his spine when the umbrella made contact. He growled when the umbrella smacked him on the back of the head, and he snarled when he bashed the front of his head on the roof of the refrigerator.

Anna readied herself to attack him again, her heart caught in her throat, but her anger spurning her on. But when the guy threw his hand up and caught the umbrella in his heavy grip, she was real close to panicking. And when he swung around, snarling and grabbing hold of the back of her shirt, she wished she'd stayed in bed.

"You want to die?" he demanded to know, hauling his little sister's feet off the floor and holding her in the air, giving him enough time to show her he meant business by throwing the umbrella across the room.

She suddenly swallowed the lump in her throat and parted her dry, nervous lips. "JIMMY!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Eight years ago…<strong>_

"What ya lookin' at?" Anna said, dragging her feet through the crumbling dirt on the sun-baked ground. "Ya can't look at meh or nothin' 'cause Ah'm invisible."

The doctor was impatient as he side-stepped the girl and approached the farmhouse in the stifling heat of the summer. "That's lovely, Anna," he said, carrying his bag to the front door as he strode quickly with precise steps. "I don't have time for silliness, though. I'm running late and your mother's an extremely unwell woman."

The lonely girl followed him with a miniature scowl. "Ya don't have tah be mean none," she said. "Ah ain't bein' mean tah ya, Ah'm just invisible. Ya can still talk tah meh 'cause ya mah friend, Doctor Dutch."

"I'm _not_ your friend," he said abruptly, knocking on the door with quick tap. "I'm a doctor. Go and be a nuisance elsewhere because I don't have time for this ridiculous nonsense."

Her face fell and she watched the doctor being invited into the house by her daddy. She wasn't sure why the man was being mean like he was, but she thought it was probably because she was invisible and he felt left out. She took off in a wander to the nearest barn, thinking up a really big storm as she reached the giant doors.

"Ah'm real sad, Jimmy. The doctor was mean tah meh 'cause Ah'm invisible," Anna muttered, walking into the huge, wooden building. But her brother wasn't there. He wasn't nowhere around and she didn't know how to call him on the phone in the house.

A small nut and bolt fell from the greased hand of Victor and he growled, working on one of the motorcycles Wolverine had sourced from a friend in the town over. "Can't an asshole work in peace around here?" he grumbled, lifting his head for a few seconds to see what his kid sister looked like now. She'd definitely had a growth spurt since he'd last clapped eyes on her.

The little girl walked over to him, her steps slow because she was curious. "Who are ya?" she asked, pointing at him because he was a big, fat stranger.

"Nobody," he muttered, wiping his hands on a grease-stained rag. "I was just passing by and caught sight of this bike. You think Jimmy would miss it?"

"Jimmy's got loads of bikes 'cause he's real greedy," Anna helpfully pointed out, stepping closer to the beaten up motorcycle.

"Yeah, that's the hunter in him," Victor explained, looking down at his sister. "He's kicked his feral side into gear by hunting out heaps of junk like this instead." He shook his head and slapped her hand away when she went to dig in the toolbox. "And you can bet your ass I'm ain't letting you play with them. You think I'm as crazy as I look, huh?"

Anna nodded, thinking he looked like he was real crazy. "Is Jimmy hidin' somewhere? Ah want tah talk tah him 'cause Ah'm still sad," she said, rubbing the mild sting from her hand.

"Fine, here's me biting," he sighed loudly, tossing the rag on the toolbox and eyeing the girl. "What's the problem? I'm better than Jimmy at sorting stuff out, so spill."

She blinked at him and scowled softly. "Ah don't trust ya none. Jimmy's mah big brother an' only big brothers can keep secrets. Everybody knows that, ya silly ol' stranger."

Victor stooped down until he was face-to-face with the girl. For a second or two, he was ready to tell her to talk away because he was her brother, but decided he didn't need the hassle. And anyway, she was safer not knowing who he was. "Nobody knows I'm here," he told her. "Not even Jimmy. Your Ma and Pa don't know I'm here, neither."

Anna put her hands on her hips and huffed. "Nuh-uh, that's not true none 'cause Ah know ya here an' everythin'."

He nodded curtly. "Yeah, you know my secret and I'm trusting you with it, kid. That's real rare for me, so about about returning the favour and giving me something to work with? I'm not usually nice to nobody, y'know."

She gave it some real, proper, important thought and nodded slowly. "Ah've thought about it loads an' Ah'm gonna talk tah ya 'cause Jimmy's run away like a girl."

Victor smirked. "He's always run like a girl," he agreed, picking Anna up and sitting her on the motorcycle. He kept one hand on her shoulder and another one on the bike to keep both steady. "Now, talk while I'm all ears. I don't have long, so make this quick."

"Ah was playin' the invisible game an' Ah saw the doctor's car comin' down the drive," she explained, grinning widely as she pretended she was riding the bike just like her brother did. "He got out his car an' Ah talked tah him 'cause he's mah friend."

"You're friends with Marco Dutch?" Victor grumbled, scowling suddenly. "That's Ma's doctor, isn't it? The fella with hair grey before his time and cold eyes that our blacker than cow dung?"

"Ya sound real funny," Anna told him, but she nodded at the first part. "Doctor Dutch said he wasn't mah friend, though. Ah only wanted tah talk tah him but he was mean. Jimmy's mah friend, Mama's mah friend, an' Daddy is too, but Ah want more friends an' nobody likes meh none."

Victor's scowl darkened when he spotted tears in his kid sister's eyes. He plucked her off the bike and sat her down on a bale of straw. "Stay there," he growled _that_ roughly poor Anna didn't dare move to even try and tie her shoelace.

He stalked across to the house and stood by the doctor's car, wondering why the hell he was letting himself get dragged into this stupid mess. But as soon as he thought about Anna-Marie, he leaned against the car and lit a cigarette. He'd make sure the damn doctor would keep a polite tongue from now on.

Anna, meanwhile, was still sitting on the hay bale ten minutes later. She was starting to think she could hear loud, angry shouting outside and she frowned curiously."Hello, ya real loud folks!" she called out, almost jumping out her skin when Doctor Dutch was thrown into the barn and landed with a thump near her feet. "That was real naughty of ya," she told the doctor. "Ya gonna hurt yaself an' then ya gonna have tah see a doctor."

"I _am _a doctor," Doctor Dutch said, pushing himself to his polished shoes and straightening his tie. He looked wildly over his shoulder for a second before he glanced at the girl again. "I apologise for my behaviour earlier, Miss Howlett," he said quickly, his tongue almost tripping over the words. "I hope you can forgive me. I was just worried about your mother." He heard Victor clear his throat loudly as he stood outside the barn listening. "I'm still your friend, of course! I've always been your friend, so please do forgive me!"

Before Anna had the chance to answer, the frightened Doctor Dutch picked up his medical bag and sprinted out the barn in fear of his life, limping slightly as he went.

Victor stalked into the barn with a proud smirk. "You feeling better now he's your friend again, Anna-Marie?" he asked, heading back over to the motorcycle he'd taken a liking to.

Anna nodded, a grin slipping onto her cheeky face again. "Ya mah friend too, fat boy," she answered, standing up and running over to him.

He snorted and ruffled her hair. "Glad I could help, but it's time I got going now," he said, stopping long enough to tighten the bolt he'd been fiddling with earlier. "Give Jimmy hell for not putting this on properly, okay?"

"Ah don't want ya tah go," Anna scowled, standing in front of him with her arms folded over her chest.

"I don't care," Victor snapped back, wiping his hands clean and giving the bike another once over with his eyes. "Get back to the house and don't tell anybody you saw me here, understand?"

An unsure Anna-Marie backed away, feeling sad. She gave him a quick wave and then barreled towards her house again, leaving him there shaking his head and grumbling about family. How could one kid make him feel like the biggest asshole going?

"Stay safe, Pup," he muttered, smoking another cigarette before he took off into the sunset again.

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Present Day…<strong>_

Logan had fallen asleep on the couch in his Pa's box-like office. He was dying to catch at least an hours sleep before he had to deal with everything today. But the sound of Anna screaming sent him to his feet before he even knew what was happening, and while his super senses filled in the gaps, he raced to the kitchen. "Hey!" he grunted, barging into the kitchen with a growl. "What's going on?"

Victor glared at his brother and hauled the girl over to the table by the back of the shirt. He dumped her in the chair and rested his hands on her shoulders to stop her moving. "Family hospitality is down shit creek, Jimmy," he groused. "You know what she did with that fucking umbrella?"

"Ah did what folks do tah burgulars!" Anna argued, trying to box the guy's hands off her shoulders. "Get ya dirty paws off meh or Ah'll bite!"

"Try it and see what happens," Victor warned darkly, looking down at her. His scowl deepened when he caught sight of her face, though. "What the hell's that in your nose?"

Logan sighed heavily, heading for the fridge. "Anna, there's nothing to be scared of, darlin'," he promised, taking some bacon, sausage and egg out to cook for breakfast. "He's a friend of the family."

"How come Ah ain't met him?" Anna said, matching the glare that was still being leveled on her. "An' it's called a nose ring. Ya lived in a cave ya whole life or somethin'?"

Victor snarled at her words and guided her chin up. Now they could look each other in the eyes, he made it clear what he thought about her attitude and style. "You'd better listen good because I won't warn you again," he said. "I might go easy on you today, but tomorrow will be a different story. You're going to take that lump of metal out your nose, you're going to remember the right way to talk to me and Jimmy, and if you step out of line you'll soon find out what the consequences are."

"Vic," Logan said, turning to look over to his brother. "Lay off her for now. Today's going to be tough enough without you and Anna kicking off too."

She wriggled out the chair and started to back away. She didn't know what the heck was going on right now or who the new guy was, but she didn't like him none. In fact, she was real sure she hated him 'cause he was crazier than members of the Jackson family shopping for new noses when they already owned one that sat square on their face.

Victor growled, letting the girl hightail upstairs. "Don't give me that look, Jimmy," he said when they both heard the bedroom door slam upstairs. "She's not keeping that piercing or that attitude. It's as simple as that."

"I might not like what's she's done to her nose, but I'm more bothered about what's going on in her head," Logan sighed, heating up the frying pan. "She's fifteen. Do you remember what you were like at that age?"

"No," the older feral grumbled, stalking to the kitchen door. "And I'm gonna handle this my way."

"You've got five minutes to make a connection with her," Logan growled lowly, tossing the sausages into the pan on the stove. "She needs to get ready and eat breakfast; the service starts in a few hours."

"Yeah, I know, this ain't the first funeral I've been to," Victor responded, climbing the stairs with a determined look.

He stopped halfway, catching sight of a photo of two little boys grinning cheesily at the camera. That was John and Jimmy, but most people probably didn't know he was also in that photo too, just hidden from view because his ma hadn't wanted to see his face again. He took it off the wall and turned the frame over in his calloused palm, sliding the photo out and taking it upstairs with him. It had been crudely folded in half so the fifteen-year-old Victor was banished from the family photo, but opening the photo up and smoothing the crease away would help him explain everything to Anna, he hoped. "Yeah, that should help," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Kid's like a steam roller on acid."


End file.
